Terms related to AI · 3.1.29
robot
an automation system with actuators that carries out intended tasks in the physical world by sensing its surroundings under software control
What this term settles
The definition fixes what robot means inside this vocabulary and, just as usefully, where the boundary sits. A reader who means something wider or narrower is using a different term and should say so.
Who it binds
The entry has no shall in it, and the force of robot comes from use: once it appears in a procedure or a supplier term, this is the meaning the reader may rely on.
What to do in your practice
Take the firm's own definition of robot, put it beside this one and mark the differences. Each difference is either a deliberate local choice or an inconsistency to fix.
Evidence an auditor or regulator asks for
- A controlled vocabulary entry for robot with the citation 3.1.29, an owner and a review date.An auditor can check that robot is controlled rather than assumed.
- An AI system inventory field that records the entry for each system, with its owner. The row names robot.Shows robot in use in the artefact the firm relies on, not only in a glossary.
- A policy or procedure sentence that uses the entry in this sense. The record carries the robot entry and its date.The policy borrows the word but not the boundary, so a supplier system and an in-house model are treated as the same kind of thing. The gap is tested against robot.
Common gaps this page catches
- robot is used in the AI vocabulary a policy reaches for first without a written definition, so two teams can mean different things.
- The entry for robot exists in a glossary but not in the system record, so the two disagree at the point of use.
What to prepare before the amendment lands
Add the entry to the register, give it an owner and a review date, and test it against one live artefact this week. The test is the evidence; the register row alone is not.
How to test it here
Take one live artefact rather than a template, find the sentence or field where robot is used, and put this page beside it. Record the answer, the artefact and the date, because that record is the evidence and a glossary entry on its own is only an intention.
What this page does not claim
The page does not reproduce the standard, certify the firm or predict the wording the amendment will use; it states robot at the claim level "definition" and stops where the public record stops.
Common questions
- What does robot mean in ISO 22989?
- an automation system with actuators that carries out intended tasks in the physical world by sensing its surroundings under software control
- What evidence should we keep for 3.1.29?
- A controlled vocabulary entry for robot with the citation 3.1.29, an owner and a review date. An AI system inventory field that records the entry for each system, with its owner. The row names robot.
- Is robot a requirement?
- No: robot is a definition or clause of a terminology standard, and it becomes binding only when a firm writes it into a policy, a contract or a procedure, or when another standard incorporates it.
Related units
Source. ISO/IEC 22989:2022, Clause 3.1.29, Terms and definitions. Open the ISO public entry. Retrieved 21 October 2026.
https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/en/#iso:std:iso-iec:22989:ed-1:v1:en
ISO catalogue record 88145, the amendment status, stage and dates. Catalogue record 74296, the base standard.
Claim level: definition. The definition is in the public preview. This page states it in our own words and does not reproduce the text.
Last updated: 2026-10-21 · Markdown version · Check your vocabulary