UNI – Ente Italiano di Normazione, Italy’s national standardisation body and MOZART partner, has just released the CWA 18409:2026, “Grasp-free, surface-based robotic manipulation – Vocabulary, characteristics, performance criteria and related test methods“, developed with the MOZART consortium through a dedicated Workshop of CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation.

A CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) is a fast-track, publicly available technical reference produced by an open group of stakeholders under CEN: lighter than a full European Standard, but immediately usable by the market and often a stepping stone towards one.

The CWA sets out common vocabulary, characteristics, performance criteria and test methods for AUTOMAT-type systems. These are the deformable, sensorised manipulation surfaces developed within MOZART to handle soft, irregular food products – such as chicken and fish – without grippers, supporting the project’s broader goal of bringing automation to stages of food processing still carried out by hand today. The document grounds these definitions in real use cases, including chicken fillet grading and packing, and assisted handling of cooked tuna during skin removal.

By giving manufacturers, integrators and food processors a shared reference, it supports the interoperability and uptake of this new generation of robotic manipulators.

Download the full document here.

Image courtesy of IT Universitetet i København