Factories and warehouses often run mobile robots from several vendors, and those robots don’t always speak the same language. A new international standard aims to fix that.
ISO 21423:2026, “Robotics — Industrial mobile robots — Communications and interoperability,” was published by ISO in October, per the ISO catalogue. The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) announced it on November 2, and The Robot Report covered it. It was developed by ISO Technical Committee 299.
What it covers
The standard sets out how industrial mobile robots, including automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), their fleet managers and other equipment exchange information and request actions. Robots can share their location, speed, direction, condition, tasking and availability.
It also reaches beyond the robots. It covers communication with machines that robots tend, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, and building systems such as lifts, automated doors and alarms. People using mobile devices can share similar information, so their work can be coordinated with the robots.
What it doesn’t cover
ISO is explicit that the standard is not safety-related and contains no safety requirements. Navigation is also out of scope. It applies to industrial workplaces such as factories, labs, warehouses and logistics sites, not to consumer, medical or public-road robots.
A3 says it is the first non-safety robot standard it has helped produce. The document costs $373 from A3’s store, or $320 for members.
Why it matters
For buyers, the promise is choice. “Companies want to choose the robots that fit their applications and have those robots work together on the same floor,” said Carole Franklin, A3’s director of standards development. A3 expects fewer cases of robots getting in each other’s way, better availability and more competition among vendors.
There is already a related European spec, VDA 5050, used for AGV and AMR fleets; robotics newsletter ExplorRobo describes ISO 21423 as wider in scope. The real test will be adoption: a standard only helps if vendors fill in the same fields the same way.