Automate UK partners with health and safety regulator to create Britain’s first regulatory guidance for collaborative robotics in the workplace

fdiforum.net Jun 17, 2026

Automate UK partners with health and safety regulator to create Britain’s first regulatory guidance for collaborative robotics in the workplace

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Jun 17, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Automate UK has partnered with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) to create Britain's first regulatory guidance for collaborative robotics in the workplace. The guidance aims to address uncertainty around compliance, particularly for collaborative robots, which is a key barrier to adoption in the UK. The UK ranks 24th globally for industrial robot density, despite ranking first for academic robotics research. The project will produce the first ever HSE-supported guidance on advanced robotics applications and is expected to increase adoption of collaborative robots by 25% by the end of 2027.

💡 Why It Matters

· The UK's slow adoption of industrial robots is not due to regulatory barriers, but rather uncertainty around compliance.
· By providing clarity on regulatory requirements, this guidance has the potential to unlock significant productivity gains and economic growth, making it a crucial step towards bridging the gap between the UK's academic research and industrial robot density.

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