Application Sector Classification

Foreword. This Classification defines the twelve application sectors in which an Application Rating (AR) may be issued, their family codes, and each sector’s applicability gate. The sector set and codes are locked (canonical definition 2026-08-26; codes per CEO D3, 2026-09-02) and are immutable under the stability contract (VRS-GEN-004 §8.1). The applicability state machine is defined in VRS-GEN-006 Clause 5; this document defines the sectors it operates over. Requirements use “shall”.

1 Scope

This Classification defines: the twelve sectors and their per-sector application classes (Clause 4), sector types and capability prerequisites (Clause 5), the rules for sector-set change (Clause 6), the sector → regulatory-regime evidence-reuse map (Clause 7), classification recording and computability (Clause 8), and multi-sector handling (Clause 9). It excludes sector-specific requirements (each sector’s VRS-<CODE>-001 standard), rating mechanics and the applicability state machine (VRS-GEN-006), and the passport schema itself (VRS-GEN-009).

2 Normative references

• VRS-GEN-006, Application Rating — Scheme (undated).
• VRS-GEN-002, Designation, Drafting and Style Rules (undated) — family codes.

3 Terms and definitions

Per VRS-GEN-001, notably 3.2.4 (capability-gated vs intended-use sectors).

3.1 application class. A named subdivision of a sector (Clause 4.4) that shares an operating mode, form factor, or anchor within that sector. An application class is an applicability field of the sector’s protocols (4.2), never a sector or an edition scope.

4 The twelve sectors

4.1 A robot form (humanoid, quadruped, arm, cobot) is not a sector. A form receives one IR and AR letters across the sectors that apply to it.

4.2 Robot classes within a sector (e.g., AGV vs humanoid within IND) shall be handled as applicability fields of that sector’s protocols, never as new sectors or edition scopes.

4.3 Precedent (informative). The design — a small, code-based taxonomy, locked and revised only by a governing body — follows the pattern of established activity classifications (ISIC Rev.5, endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in 2023; NACE Rev. 2.1, 2025 edition). Those classify a party’s economic activity; VRS sectors classify a robot’s application context and capability, so they are cited as a governance precedent, not as a source of sector definitions.

4.4 Application classes (normative enumeration). Each sector is subdivided into the application classes of Table 1. This enumeration is the authoritative class list for the class-applicability rule of each sector’s VRS-<CODE>-201 protocol and for the passport class field (8.1); it is not a scoring input. A class introduced by a sector protocol shall be one of these, and a sector protocol shall not create a class outside its row without a sector-set change (Clause 6.1). Where a sector anchor differs by class, the difference is stated in that sector’s VRS-<CODE>-001 / -201, not here (single source of truth, VRS-GEN-002).

Table 1 — Application classes by sector. The Notes column records only class-specific applicability caveats that a sector protocol carries; the authoritative statement lives in that protocol.

4.5 Class-applicability rule. Within an applicable sector, a criterion whose applicability excludes the assessed class is removed from both the numerator and the denominator of that sector’s Application Rating; the letter is issued per applicable class and, where a model spans several classes, the displayed letter is the lowest across its applicable classes. The rule is executed by the sector’s VRS-<CODE>-201 protocol under VRS-GEN-006; this Classification supplies only the class list it operates over.

5 Sector types and capability prerequisites

5.1 The capability-gated sectors and their objective prerequisites are:

• AER — flight capability;
• MAR — water operation / submersion rating;
• SPC — space qualification (vacuum/radiation/launch survivability). A model lacking the prerequisite is not-applicable to that sector, with no further determination steps.

5.2 For intended-use sectors, applicability derives from manufacturer declaration plus minimum capability, subject to assessor override with recorded rationale (VRS-GEN-006 §5.2). Default: not-applicable.

5.3 Each sector standard (VRS-<CODE>-001) shall state its sector’s minimum-capability description and may refine (but not contradict) the prerequisites of 5.1.

6 Changing the sector set

6.1 The sector set and codes are immutable under VRS-GEN-004 §8.1. Adding, removing, merging, or renaming a sector is a rescale-tier act (VRS-GEN-004 §4.5) requiring explicit CEO authority.

6.2 A reserved sector (DEF) is activated — not added — by publishing its VRS-DEF-001 standard; activation is a normal publication act, not a taxonomy change.

6.3 Emerging domains that do not fit an existing sector shall first be handled as classes or annex modules within the nearest sector; only sustained misfit justifies invoking 6.1.

7 Sector → regulatory-regime and evidence-reuse map

7.1 At classification time an assessor shall identify, for each applicable sector, the existing conformity regime a manufacturer already produces evidence under, so that adoption costs a mapping rather than new testing (adoptability, VRS-GEN-012). Table 2 gives the representative cross-sector expectation for the beachhead and launch sectors verified this edition; the assessor shall record the actual artefact relied on and any deviation with a rationale.

Table 2 — Representative regime anchors and reusable conformity artefacts (illustrative).

7.2 The regimes in Table 2 are anchors, not applicability conditions. A model shall not be excluded from a sector solely because it lacks a named regional regime’s conformity; jurisdiction-neutrality means a manufacturer’s equivalent domestic conformity satisfies the same evidence lane (VRS-GEN-012).

7.3 The authoritative and complete regime set for a sector lives only in that sector’s VRS-<CODE>-001 standard (single source of truth, VRS-GEN-002); where it names a more specific regime, that standard governs and Table 2 shall be read as the minimum cross-sector expectation.

8 Recording a classification and computability

8.1 The applicability determination for every model×sector pair shall be recorded in the Robot Risk Passport (VRS-GEN-009) with: the sector code (Clause 4), the state (VRS-GEN-006 §5.1), the basis (capability gate / manufacturer declaration / assessor override, per Clause 5), and the evidence artefact relied on (Clause 7). The record shall be sufficient for a third party to reproduce the determination without contacting the assessor (determinism).

8.2 A not-applicable determination shall record the failed prerequisite (Clause 5) so the result is reproducible, and shall not be recorded or displayed as, or in a manner implying, a poor grade (VRS-GEN-006 §5.1).

8.3 A classification shall be re-evaluated when a declared capability, configuration, or intended-use scope changes materially (VRS-GEN-008 §4.3), or when a capability gate is gained or lost (Clause 5.1); the revised determination shall be recorded in the passport and the prior determination retained in history (VRS-GEN-008 §9.2).

9 Multi-sector models and exposure separation

9.1 A model shall receive an independent applicability determination for each of the twelve sectors; applicability to one sector neither implies nor precludes applicability to another, and a model form is not itself a sector (4.1).

9.2 Each applicable model×sector pair accrues its own sector-context exposure denominator (sector op-hours; VRS-GEN-101 §7, VRS-GEN-102 §7). A model shall carry a separate exposure record for each applicable sector, and evidence accrued in one sector shall not be pooled into another sector’s exposure without a recorded analogue justification — so that a strong IND record cannot silently stand in for, e.g., SVC evidence.

9.3 Where a form is marketed for several sectors, the manufacturer declaration shall enumerate the intended sectors; a sector neither declared nor asserted by assessor override (Clause 5.2) defaults to not-applicable.

10 Worked example (informative) — classification walkthrough

The following illustrates how an assessor applies Clauses 4–9 to a hypothetical model. It is not a real assessment and does not imply that any robot holds a Veyrum rating.

Input. A manufacturer declares a general-purpose humanoid, model code GEN-EX-07, for two sectors: IND (warehouse material handling) and SVC (retail floor assistance). It holds a CE technical file compiled against Machinery Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, an ISO 10218-2:2025 robot-cell risk assessment, and an ISO 3691-4:2023 verification record for its AGV mobility base. It has no flight capability, no submersion rating, and no space qualification, and is not declared for any other sector.

Step 1 — capability gates (Cl. 5.1). AER, MAR, SPC each require an objective physical prerequisite (flight / water operation / space qualification). GEN-EX-07 has none, so all three are not-applicable with no further steps; each record names the failed prerequisite (8.2).

Step 2 — intended-use sectors (Cl. 5.2, 9.3). IND and SVC are declared. Minimum capability is met (mobility, manipulation), so both move from the default not-applicable to applicable, with the evidence bar not yet met (VRS-GEN-006 §5), pending evidence. MED, DOM, FLD, HAZ, TRN, DEF, ASW are neither declared nor asserted by override, so they default to not-applicable (9.3).

Step 3 — application class (Cl. 4.4–4.5). Within IND the model is classed mobile (its AGV base) and manipulator (its arms), both drawn from the IND row of Table 1; within SVC it is classed mobile service. The AR letter will be issued per applicable class and, where it spans classes, the displayed IND letter is the lowest across mobile and manipulator (4.5).

Step 4 — evidence lane (Cl. 7). For IND, Table 2 directs the assessor to the CE technical file and the ISO 10218 risk assessment already held; the ISO 3691-4:2023 record covers the mobile class (a class within IND, 4.2/4.4), not a separate sector. For SVC, the ISO 13482 risk-assessment lane applies; the assessor records that a bystander-interaction assessment is still outstanding.

Step 5 — exposure separation (Cl. 9.2). IND and SVC will each accrue their own sector op-hours; the manufacturer’s 40,000 IND op-hours of pilot telemetry shall not be pooled into SVC exposure without a recorded analogue justification, so SVC begins with no accrued sector exposure.

Output — the applicability set. { IND: applicable (evidence bar not yet met), SVC: applicable (evidence bar not yet met); AER, MAR, SPC: not-applicable (no capability); MED, DOM, FLD, HAZ, TRN, DEF, ASW: not-applicable (not declared) }. Each pair is written to the passport (Cl. 8.1) with its basis, application class (Cl. 4.4) and artefact. No AR letter is asserted here — letters are computed only by each sector’s VRS-<CODE>-201 protocol under VRS-GEN-006, once the evidence bar is met.

Bibliography

• ISO 8373:2021, Robotics — Vocabulary (3rd ed.; iso.org/standard/75539.html) — robot-term and “form ≠ sector” basis (4.1).
• ISO 10218-1:2025 and ISO 10218-2:2025, Robotics — Safety requirements — Part 1: Industrial robots; Part 2: Industrial robot applications and robot cells (3rd / 2nd ed., 2025-02) — IND regime anchor (Table 2).
• ISO 3691-4:2023, Industrial trucks — Safety requirements and verification — Part 4: Driverless industrial trucks and their systems — IND AGV/AMR class anchor (Table 2).
• ISO 13482:2014, Robots and robotic devices — Safety requirements for personal care robots (under revision; DIS retitled Robotics — Safety requirements for service robots) — SVC/DOM anchor (Table 2).
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, Machinery Regulation (adopted 14 June 2023; applies from 20 January 2027, repealing Directive 2006/42/EC) — cross-sector CE conformity floor (Table 2).
• Regulation (EU) 2019/945 (product) and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 (operation), civil unmanned aircraft systems (open/specific/certified categories) — AER anchor (Table 2).
• ISIC Rev.5 (International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities; endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission, 54th session, 2023) — locked code-based-taxonomy governance precedent (4.3).
• NACE Rev. 2.1 (Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Union, 2025 edition; Eurostat KS-GQ-24-007) — regional-classification precedent (4.3).

Change history