ISO 18646-2:2024

Overview

ISO 18646-2:2024 - "Robotics - Performance criteria and related test methods for service robots - Part 2: Navigation" defines standardized methods to specify and evaluate the navigation performance of mobile service robots. The standard concentrates on measurable navigation characteristics such as pose accuracy and repeatability, obstacle detection and avoidance, path deviation, narrow passage negotiation, and mapping accuracy. It applies to mobile platforms that remain in contact with the travel surface and is primarily targeted at indoor environments (with guidance for outdoor applicability in Annex A). This second edition revises and expands the 2019 edition by adding clauses for path deviation, narrow passage, and mapping accuracy.

Key Topics

• Pose characteristics
  • Pose accuracy and pose repeatability as core measures of localization and control.
• Obstacle handling
  • Test methods to evaluate an operator or robot’s ability to detect and avoid obstacles in planned paths.
• Path performance
  • Path deviation tests to quantify how closely a robot follows planned trajectories.
  • Narrow passage tests to assess maneuverability in constrained spaces.
• Mapping accuracy
  • Methods for assessing map quality produced by robot sensors and SLAM systems.
• Test conditions and facilities
  • Environmental, travel-surface, operating-condition and test-path specifications that ensure repeatable, comparable results.
• Scope limitations
  • Targets mobile platforms contacting the travel surface; does not cover manipulator characteristics (see ISO 9283) and is not intended for safety verification or for defining test personnel safety requirements.

Applications

Who uses ISO 18646-2:2024 and why:

• Robot manufacturers - to quantify navigation performance during design and QA, and to communicate capabilities to customers.
• Test and certification labs - to perform repeatable, objective navigation performance tests.
• System integrators and OEMs - to select or validate mobile platforms for specific indoor tasks (logistics, delivery, inspection, cleaning, guidance).
• Procurement and specification writers - to define measurable navigation requirements in tenders and contracts.
• Researchers and developers - to benchmark algorithms (localization, path planning, SLAM) against standardized metrics.

Practical value: use the standard to produce comparable performance data, reduce ambiguity in specs, and support product claims with reproducible test methods.

Related Standards

• ISO 18646 series (other parts covering different service-robot performance areas)
• ISO 9283 - performance criteria for manipulators (applicable when manipulators are evaluated)
• ISO 8373 - robotics vocabulary and definitions used in this standard
• ISO 7176-13 - referenced for test-surface friction determination

Keywords: ISO 18646-2, service robots, navigation performance, pose accuracy, obstacle detection, mapping accuracy, indoor navigation, test methods, mobile platform.