Through its regulatory sandbox, Seoul is exempting IGRIS-A robots from the restrictions imposed on industrial machinery whilst they undergo trials at four factories and construction sites.
South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy approved on October 13, as part of its regulatory sandbox, a waiver that allows 20 humanoid robots to work in the same aisles as employees. The current safety rules have been designed for stationary industrial robots and impose fences separating their work area from that of humans, making it impossible for a bipedal machine to circulate in a workshop.
The robots concerned are IGRIS-A, whole-body control humanoids from the Seoul start-up Robros. They will be spread over four sites: at Nepes (semiconductors) to remove contaminants, at Sungwoo Hitech (car parts) to position panels, at the Hyundai Samho HD shipyard to stack scaffolding elements, and at Delivery Lab (refrigerated logistics) to handle packaging.
Data to rewrite standards
Each site will have to conduct a risk assessment and apply the measures prescribed by the Ministry of Employment and Labour before deploying the machines. The government intends to use the results of these tests to further revise the standards for mobile robots that share the workspace with humans.
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