Robotics and automation
Robotics and automation design machines that sense, decide and act in physical environments. They are used in manufacturing, logistics, inspection and disaster response, and change patterns of operational risk and labour. Advanced Industry and Robotics stewards this page for the Nexus Consortium.
- 01InstitutionThe Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
- 02Service levelR0: information and enquiries
- 03In briefThe short answer
- 04The methodWhat robotics and automation covers
- 05Reference practiceRobotics safety is set by machinery and functional safety standards
- 06In systemic risk workAutomation changes how failures happen
- 07Applied inPlatforms that apply this method
GCRI · Institution · service level R0
The short answer.
Robotics and automation design machines that sense, decide and act in physical environments. Automation can reduce human exposure to hazardous tasks and speed recovery operations. In the Nexus Consortium, Advanced Industry and Robotics stewards its canonical page, and 2 other platforms apply it, including Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems as well as Future of Work and Skills.
Digital demand and connectivity in the contiguous United States.
Urban demand centres and the hubs that anchor digital and data infrastructure, shown for the contiguous United States as an example geography for this subject.
What robotics and automation covers.
- 01
Core methods
motion planning; control system design; perception and sensor fusion; human-robot interaction design; simulation-based testing; functional safety analysis.
- 02
Data and instruments
robot telemetry; industrial control system logs; simulation environments; incident and near-miss records; test track and field trial data.
- 03
Validation
Systems are validated through simulation, staged field trials and conformance to functional safety standards. Operational monitoring checks performance after deployment.
- 04
Limits
Robots may behave unpredictably in unstructured environments not covered by testing. Interaction with people raises safety and liability questions.
- 05
Use in risk decisions
Automation can reduce human exposure to hazardous tasks and speed recovery operations. It also concentrates dependence on software, sensors and supply chains.
Robotics safety is set by machinery and functional safety standards.
| Reference | What it sets |
|---|---|
| ISO 10218 | Industrial robot safety |
| IEC 61508 | Functional safety |
| ANSI/UL 4600 | Safety cases for autonomous products |
| IFR World Robotics | Statistics on installed robots |
Automation changes how failures happen.
Robots and autonomous systems reduce some hazards and introduce others: software faults, sensor misperception, and failures that occur across a fleet simultaneously because every unit runs the same code. Assessment combines functional safety with fleet-level analysis.
- Consider common-mode failures across fleets.
- Assess human-robot interaction hazards.
- Track labour effects alongside safety.
- Applications on Advanced Industry and Robotics and AI and Autonomous Systems.
Platforms that apply this method.
Who maintains this page.
Advanced Industry and Robotics stewards robotics and automation: it keeps this description current and reviews how the method is applied across the platforms.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Scenario-based testing | Testing an automated system against catalogued situations, including rare and hazardous ones. |
| Minimal risk condition | A safe state an automated system enters when it cannot continue its task. |
| Safety function | A function of a machine whose failure could increase risk, such as a protective stop. |
| Machine vision | The use of cameras and image processing to guide or inspect automated tasks. |
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
Questions and answers.
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How do I suggest a correction to a method page?
Around GCRI.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.