China leads development of international legged robot standards

China is leading the development of the first international performance evaluation standards for household and legged robots. The new standards, IEC 62849:2025 for household robots and ISO 18646-5:2026 for legged service robots, aim to unify how industries measure capabilities such as obstacle avoidance, slope navigation, and task completion.

This standardization marks a shift from relying on marketing demonstrations to verifiable, reliable performance. The standards will allow global customers and testing agencies to compare different robotic platforms using consistent metrics. Experts from Suzhou and the Zhejiang Lab played key roles in drafting these international guidelines.

In the industrial sector, companies like Pudu Robotics and Unitree are already deploying legged robots for complex tasks. Pudu’s D5 series has been utilized in power stations and ports for high-frequency inspections, while Unitree’s B2 is designed for power tunnel inspections. These applications highlight the growing importance of safety frameworks—encompassing environmental perception, motion stability, and network security—as robots move into high-stakes environments like petrochemical plants and mining sites.