Industrial — Detection and Safe-Stop Evidence Protocol

Foreword. This Test Protocol is the Industrial sector’s method and apparatus reference for the detection and safe-stop dimension: it states what detection and safe-stop evidence must demonstrate and against which anchor regimes, and it is the document VRS-IND-110 cites when it witnesses those functions live. It defines no bench test parameters of its own — the anchor standards own the test regimes and VRS consumes their results: ISO 3691-4:2023 for driverless industrial trucks (the mobile application class) and ISO 10218-2:2025 for robot applications and cells (the manipulator class); the minimum-distance and stopping-distance methodology is ISO 13855:2024 (all verified this run; Bibliography). In the VRS 2026 edition the sector’s application classes are mobile · manipulator · legged-other (VRS-IND-201 §7.3); the earlier class names map once here — the former mobile-logistics class is now mobile, and the former fixed-cell and collaborative-application classes are now manipulator. Evidence is expressed by tier, not by a grade ladder: documentary forms (accredited-laboratory reports, third-party certificates, QMS-witnessed instrumented results) serve the Verified rows of the VRS-IND-201 criteria named in Clause 6; witnessed forms are the live steps of VRS-IND-110 and serve the Certified tier. The detection/safe-stop evidence dimensions are fixed by the anchor regimes and are therefore target-independent (Clause 6); the declared envelope values that populate them for a model (its speeds, payloads, sensing configuration, floor limits) are a declared field recorded per Clause 8 (VRS-GEN-009). A first-of-model assessment is an ordinary assessment under cold-start parity (VRS-GEN-005 §6); an application class the assessed envelope does not include is recorded not covered, never guessed. No robot holds a Veyrum rating. Requirements use “shall”; recommendations use “should”.

1 Scope

This Protocol defines the evidence requirements for the detection and safe-stop dimension of Industrial assessments (hazard groups H1/H2, VRS-IND-001 Clause 5) for the mobile and manipulator application classes (VRS-IND-201 §7.3): what evidence must show (Clause 4), admissible evidence forms by tier (Clause 5), the target-independent evidence-dimension matrices (Clause 6), a worked example (Clause 7), and consumption and recording (Clause 8). It defines no test apparatus or procedure of its own and does not restate the anchor regimes’ detection-field, zone, braking, or approach-speed parameters.

Excluded: collaborative-application contact-force and separation evidence, which is the subject of VRS-IND-102 and the body-region taxonomy it holds; the live witnessing procedure itself (VRS-IND-110); the rating mathematics (VRS-GEN-005/006, VRS-IND-201); and sector applicability and hazard taxonomy (VRS-IND-001).

2 Normative references

• VRS-IND-001, Industrial Sector Standard; VRS-IND-201, Industrial AR Assessment Protocol (the criteria whose Verified rows this evidence serves; application classes §7.3); VRS-IND-110, Industrial Demonstration Protocol (the witnessed steps this evidence feeds); VRS-IND-102, Collaborative-Application Contact Evidence Protocol (body-region taxonomy and contact evidence); VRS-GEN-012, Evidence and Data Requirements (cited for provenance and consent only); VRS-GEN-101, IR category safety_incidents; VRS-GEN-005, IR Methodology (§6 cold-start parity); VRS-GEN-009, Registry schema (all as dated at assessment).
• Consumed test regimes (the compliance floor VRS rates above — verified 2026-09-16):
  • ISO 3691-4:2023 — driverless industrial trucks and their systems; detection fields, speed-adaptive protective zones, safe-stop for AGV/AMR (mobile class).
  • ISO 10218-1:2025 / ISO 10218-2:2025 — robot and robot-application safety, including the safety-rated monitored stop and other safety functions (manipulator class).
  • ISO 13855:2024 — positioning of safeguards with respect to the approach of the human body; the minimum-distance / stopping-distance methodology safe-stop evidence is computed against (cited, not reproduced — single source, VRS-GEN-002 §7).
  • ISO 13849-1:2023 — safety-related parts of control systems (SRP/CS); Performance Level PL a–e verification of detection and stop safety functions.
  • IEC 62061:2021 — functional safety of safety-related control systems (SCS); SIL — the alternative control-system-integrity regime a manufacturer may already hold.

3 Terms and definitions

Per VRS-GEN-001 and VRS-IND-001. For this Protocol:

• Detection evidence — measured results demonstrating the model’s person/obstacle detection performance (detection-field geometry, response, and reliability) under the anchor regime’s conditions.
• Safe-stop evidence — measured results demonstrating stopping behaviour — stopping distance (m) and stop-function response time (ms) — within the anchor regime’s criteria for the assessed application class and declared speeds/loads.
• Protective (detection) field — the sensor-monitored region whose intrusion triggers a protective response; its size, shape, and switching are declared configuration.
• Speed-adaptive zone — a protective-field set that switches with travel speed (ISO 3691-4:2023 concept for driverless trucks).
• Declared envelope — the assessed combination of speeds (m/s), payload (kg), sensing configuration, floor/travel-surface limits, and safety-function architecture. It is a declared field (§8.2), corroborated at assessment, not assumed by this Protocol.
• Not covered — a state recording that an application class or evidence dimension lacks admissible evidence, so it is excluded from the assessed envelope rather than assumed compliant.

4 What the evidence must show

4.1 For each application class in the assessed envelope (VRS-IND-201 §7.3), evidence shall demonstrate every evidence dimension of the applicable Clause 6 matrix: (a) detection performance under the anchor regime’s conditions for that class; (b) safe-stop behaviour — stopping distance (m) and stop response time (ms) — meeting the anchor regime’s criteria at the declared speeds (m/s) and loads (kg); © behaviour at the declared envelope limits, not only at nominal conditions.

4.2 Evidence shall reflect the declared envelope assessed. A change of sensing configuration, maximum speed, payload, or floor/travel-surface class that raises stopping distance or degrades detection shall require re-measurement or an envelope contraction recorded in the assessment record (§8.2); results for one configuration shall not support a different one.

4.3 Evidence shall cover the degraded conditions the anchor regime tests — sensor obscuration, worst-case approach geometry, and floor/travel-surface limits — where the declared envelope includes them.

4.4 Which application classes are in the assessed envelope is a declared field (§8.2), not assumed by this Protocol. A class the envelope does not include shall be recorded not covered (VRS-IND-201 §7.3), not carried as an open placeholder. A first-of-model assessment is an ordinary assessment under cold-start parity (VRS-GEN-005 §6); any envelope contraction is recorded in the assessment record.

4.5 Where the application relies on a safety-related control function to bound speed, detection response, or stopping, evidence shall include the required Performance Level (PL, ISO 13849-1:2023) or SIL (IEC 62061:2021) verification for that function; a detection or safe-stop claim whose underlying safety function lacks PL/SIL verification shall not be admissible (Clause 5).

4.6 Safe-stop distance evidence shall be evaluated against the minimum-distance / stopping-distance methodology of ISO 13855:2024 (approach speeds and overall system stopping performance); this Protocol cites that methodology at clause level and does not reproduce its parameters.

5 Admissible evidence forms

5.1 Detection and safe-stop measurements shall be instrumented — measurement-device results against the anchor regime’s method. Demonstration videos, operator recollection, and marketing claims shall not be admitted as detection or safe-stop evidence.

5.2 Admissible evidence is expressed by tier, not by a grade ladder:

• Documentary (Verified tier). Accredited-laboratory results against the anchor test regime, third-party reports and certificates, and manufacturer instrumented results witnessed under an audited QMS shall be admissible as documentary evidence and serve the Verified rows of the VRS-IND-201 criteria mapped in Clause 6. Manufacturer self-declared instrumented results are admissible as documentary evidence only where corroborated.
• Witnessed (Certified tier). Live measurement performed and observed under VRS-IND-110 in a demonstration session shall be the witnessed form; it serves the Certified tier of the same criteria. Each witnessed dimension names the VRS-IND-110 step that produces it (Clause 6).

Provenance and consent for either form are recorded per VRS-GEN-012; that reference governs labelling only and assigns no weight or score.

5.3 Evidence measured against a superseded anchor edition shall be admitted only where the measured configuration matches the assessed declared envelope; otherwise it shall be treated as not applicable and re-measurement required before it supports a Verified or Certified determination (edition changes trigger review, §8.3).

5.4 Incomplete coverage shall block the affected envelope, not degrade it silently: if any evidence dimension (Clause 6) for an in-envelope class lacks admissible evidence, that class shall be recorded not covered for the affected dimension rather than assumed compliant.

6 Evidence-dimension matrices (target-independent)

The evidence dimensions below are fixed by the anchor regimes and are therefore target-independent: they state what evidence must demonstrate for a class, regardless of any specific model. The declared envelope values that populate each dimension for an assessed model (its speeds, payload, sensing configuration, floor limits) are a declared field recorded per §8.2. For each dimension of the applicable matrix, evidence shall demonstrate the stated result at the declared envelope limits. The final column names, for each dimension, the documentary form that serves the VRS-IND-201 Verified row and the VRS-IND-110 step that witnesses it at Certified.

6.1 mobile class (AGV/AMR) — anchor regime ISO 3691-4:2023.

6.2 manipulator class (industrial robot cell/arm, incl. collaborative applications) — anchor regime ISO 10218-2:2025.

Power-and-force-limiting contact per reachable body-region class is out of this Protocol’s scope: the body-region taxonomy, contact types and per-region limit values are held in VRS-IND-102, and the corresponding witnessed steps (quasi-static and transient contact) are VRS-IND-110 steps IND-110.08 and IND-110.09. A dimension the assessed envelope does not reach need not be evidenced only where the envelope excludes it and that exclusion is recorded (§8.2); otherwise every dimension of the applicable matrix shall be evidenced in full, or the affected dimension shall be recorded not covered (§5.4). The legged-other class carries no dedicated anchor regime in this edition; where such a model declares a detection or safe-stop function, the applicable matrix is the one matching its declared configuration, and any dimension the declared configuration does not reach is recorded not covered.

7 Worked example (informative)

Example only — not a real product; no robot holds a Veyrum rating. A fictional warehouse AMR declares a mobile envelope: maximum travel speed 1.8 m/s, docking speed 0.3 m/s, maximum payload 120 kg including a towed cart, a safety LiDAR with a declared ambient-light immunity boundary of 1,500 lx, and a floor envelope of maximum slope 1.0°, obstacle height 5 mm, gap 10 mm. Its speed-limiting and stop functions are declared at PL-d.

Verified (documentary) path. The submission is an accredited-laboratory report against ISO 3691-4:2023 giving detection-field and speed-adaptive-zone performance across 0–1.8 m/s with the field-set switching verified; measured safe-stop distance and stop response time at 1.8 m/s and at the 120 kg loaded-cart condition, within the anchor criteria and consistent with the ISO 13855:2024 minimum-distance methodology; detection at the 1,500 lx boundary; stop performance at the floor limits; E-stop and safety-reset function; and an ISO 13849-1:2023 PL-d verification of the speed-limiting and stop functions. Every §6.1 dimension has admissible documentary evidence, so the mobile class is covered at the Verified tier: the report serves the Verified rows of VRS-IND-201 §6.2 (safe-stop, braking, travel surface), §6.3 (detection, sensing envelope), §6.5 (degraded conditions) and §6.6 (E-stop and reset).

Certified (witnessed) path. In a VRS-IND-110 session the same functions are witnessed at the declared limits: the protective stop at 1.8 m/s (IND-110.01), at 120 kg (IND-110.02), on the 1.0° slope (IND-110.03) and on the worst floor (IND-110.04); switching-field transitions (IND-110.05); detection at the 1,500 lx boundary (IND-110.06); worst-case approach geometry (IND-110.07); and refusal of an unauthorised reset (IND-110.11). The witnessed marks serve the Certified tier of the same criteria; no arithmetic is performed in this Protocol (VRS-IND-201 and VRS-GEN-005/006 own the determination).

Not-covered contrast. The same submission with no travel-surface measurement at the declared 1.0° slope does not lower any result — under §5.4 the travel-surface dimension is recorded not covered, the envelope is contracted to exclude slopes beyond what was measured, and the assessor records the contraction per §8.2. A submission relying on results at a lower speed configuration (e.g. 1.2 m/s) to support the 1.8 m/s envelope is inadmissible under §4.2. The AMR’s manipulator class is simply not covered (§4.4) — it is absent from the declared envelope, not an open placeholder.

8 Consumption and recording

8.1 Documentary evidence serves the Verified rows of VRS-IND-201 §6.1–§6.6 and the safety evidence of the safety_incidents category (VRS-GEN-101); witnessed measurement is recorded as the corresponding VRS-IND-110 steps in the Session Record and serves the Certified tier. This Protocol records evidence and its coverage; it assigns no points and computes no rating (VRS-GEN-005/006, VRS-IND-201).

8.2 The assessment record shall identify: the anchor regime edition tested against; the declared envelope (application class, speeds in m/s, payload in kg, sensing configuration, floor/travel-surface limits, safety-function architecture and PL/SIL); the laboratory or witness and the evidence form (documentary or witnessed); the test report or Session Record identifiers and dates (to day precision); whether the assessment is a first-of-model assessment under cold-start parity (VRS-GEN-005 §6); and any envelope contraction applied (§5.4).

8.3 Anchor-regime edition changes (e.g. a future ISO 3691-4 or ISO 10218-2 amendment) shall trigger evidence review per VRS-GEN-004 §7; a superseded-edition report shall be re-mapped or re-measured before it supports a Verified or Certified determination.

Bibliography

• ISO 3691-4:2023 (iso.org/standard/88615.html; edition 2, 2023-06) — Industrial trucks — Safety requirements and verification — Part 4: Driverless industrial trucks and their systems.
• ISO 10218-1:2025 (iso.org/standard/73933.html; edition 3, 2025-02) — Robotics — Safety requirements — Part 1: Industrial robots.
• ISO 10218-2:2025 (iso.org/standard/73934.html; edition 2, 2025-02) — robot applications and robot cells (TS 15066 absorbed; explicit cybersecurity requirements).
• ISO 13855:2024 (iso.org/standard/80590.html; edition 3, 2024) — Safety of machinery — Positioning of safeguards with respect to the approach of the human body. Supersedes ISO 13855:2010 (now withdrawn).
• ISO 13849-1:2023 (iso.org/standard/73481.html; edition 4, 2023-04) — Safety of machinery — Safety-related parts of control systems — Part 1: General principles for design (Performance Level).
• IEC 62061:2021 (webstore.iec.ch/en/publication/59927; edition 2) — Safety of machinery — Functional safety of safety-related control systems (SIL).

Change history