ISO has published ISO 21423:2026, "Robotics — Industrial mobile robots — Communications and interoperability," a standard that specifies how industrial mobile robots (IMRs) communicate with each other and with the systems around them. The work came out of ISO TC 299 Working Group 10.

The scope goes beyond robot-to-robot messaging. The document covers communication between IMRs, IMR fleet managers, and other equipment in a shared industrial environment, including machines tended by the robots, ERP tools, and building infrastructure such as lifts, alarm systems, and automated doors. ISO defines industrial settings to include manufacturing, laboratory, pharmaceutical, warehousing, distribution, and logistics sites. Entertainment, consumer, military, medical, and public-road uses are excluded.

According to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the standard builds on the MassRobotics Interoperability Standard and VDA 5050, with MQTT and JSON as its foundation. VDA 5050 was written for centrally controlled systems, where one authority handles fleet management and task allocation. ISO 21423 allows both centralized and distributed architectures. A3 describes the two as complementary rather than competing.

For automation engineers running robots from more than one vendor, the problem is concrete. A3 gives the example of autonomous forklifts from one vendor sharing a floor with cleaning robots from another. Today, it says, the machines can block each other until a worker notices and intervenes. ISO 21423 states common requirements for coordinating that kind of shared operation.

End users took part in drafting. Mark Lewandowski, Director of Robotics and Machine Safety at Procter & Gamble, said "Industry has needed this standard for some time now." Steven DuMont, Advanced Automation Development Manager at General Motors, said GM has backed the effort from the start and runs multi-brand IMR fleets worldwide. A3 says almost 90 participants from 15 countries contributed, including robot manufacturers, software platform vendors, system integrators, and academics.

The document is not safety-related and contains no safety requirements. Navigation requirements are also outside its scope.