The IEEE Humanoids Study Group was formed in June 2024 and initiated the process of evaluating the current safety standards that might impact the safe design and deployment of humanoid robots. The group’s goal is not to develop any standards, but rather to do the homework that will tee up the development of new standards, or the revision of existing standards, to cover the needs of humanoids.
Many companies are currently developing humanoids for commercial use, including Agility Robotics, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Figure, and many others. Agility Robotics’ Digit is widely seen as the leader in the clubhouse at the moment because actually deployed commercially with Spanx in a tote-moving application.
The groupaims to complete its market research and final report within a year. Subsequently, Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) will require an additional 1-2 years to develop and ratify any new standards. Consequently, it will take a minimum of 18 to 30 months before humanoid robots can …