The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) has published ISO 21423:2026, a new international standard that establishes common communication requirements for industrial mobile robots (IMRs) from different vendors operating in the same facility1,2. The standard covers automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and similar systems.
Developed by ISO Technical Committee 299, ISO 21423:2026 specifies how IMRs, fleet managers, and other equipment exchange information and request actions. Under the standard, robots can share their location, speed, direction, condition, tasking, and availability with one another.
For end users, the standard targets a persistent operational problem: robots from different suppliers interfering with each other's paths or path planning, which degrades availability and system efficiency. A common protocol is also expected to increase competition in the market and support innovation, according to A3.
"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 for robotics. "Many leading industrial users of mobile robots have asked for an interoperability standard for years".
Franklin added that ISO 21423:2026 gives manufacturers and users a common basis for communication across fleets regardless of facility location, and can help companies expand automation with equipment from different vendors while making better use of robots they already have.
As an ISO standard, ISO 21423:2026 can be adopted in countries around the world.