All eyes and ears on Copenhagen for next steps on standardisation for robotic cleaning machinery

At the ICMMA Technical Committee in February it was confirmed to members that the first opportunity to progress the work on standardisation for robotic cleaning machinery would be through the tabling of a proposal at the IEC SC 61J meeting taking place in Copenhagen next week. We are grateful to Chara Freed, Head of Standardisation and Compliance at Nilfisk, for representing ICMMA and ensuring that this subject matter was placed on the agenda. We look forward to a de-brief after the meeting and are hopeful that ICMMA members will be in a position to set up an ad-hoc working group with the purpose of putting together a New Work Item Proposal (NWIP).

Should the NWIP be accepted then ICMMA members could be involved in reviewing the draft and whilst the timeline pans out, come together to draft their own guidance and standards that can be endorsed and shared across the industry thus ensuring that their interests are encapsulated.

Kevin Webb, Chair of the ICMMA Technical Committee, will take a lead on organising a UK meeting as soon as papers from the IEC SC 61J are received. A conversation with the ISO/TC 299 Robots and Robotic Devices committee has not taken place but will do once the outcome of next week’s meeting is known.