First-ever IEC 61508 certification for a collaborative AMR

The client was deploying collaborative AMRs into high-speed, human-shared facility environments — mixed zones where robots and people occupy the same floor. There was no mature regulatory blueprint for this class of system, and no independent validation framework to demonstrate the robots were functionally safe.

Without an established certification path, the program faced two compounding risks: an architecture that might not withstand independent scrutiny, and a launch timeline exposed to late-stage findings that could force a redesign.

• No regulatory precedent

  No prior collaborative AMR had been certified to IEC 61508 — the path had to be defined, not followed.

• Human-shared, high-speed operation

  Mixed-zone personnel tracking under ISO 3691-4 raised the bar for hazard analysis and risk reduction.

• No internal validation framework

  The team needed independent technical evidence that certifiers and regulators would accept.

CSA embedded with the engineering team as an independent technical challenger, building the safety case alongside the design rather than auditing it after the fact. We executed rigorous safety audits, managed requirements traceability across the full lifecycle, and led the third-party assessment interfaces end to end.

Because we never build the product we assess, our validation carried the independence certifiers expect — letting the client present a clean, defensible argument at every gate.

• Rigorous safety audits

  Independent gap analyses and hardware safety validation against IEC 61508 systematic-capability targets.

• End-to-end requirements traceability

  Every safety requirement tied to its source hazard and its verification evidence across the V-model.

• Led third-party assessment interfaces

  Acted as the technical bridge to assessors so the certification argument was presented clearly and completely.

The platform achieved the first-ever IEC 61508 certification for a collaborative autonomous mobile robot — establishing both the client’s product and the validation pathway itself as a reference for the category.