Human accountability for autonomous systems
RoboIns is a non-profit Swiss association building an open parametric risk standard and a neutral incident registry for AI agents and robots, so every autonomous action can be traced to a responsible party and to pre-agreed financial cover.
“The real risk of the 21st century is not thinking machines. It is autonomous agents without consciousness.”
A chain that keeps closing on itself
Autonomous systems are hard to insure not for lack of capital, but because every technical fix creates the next problem.
No loss history
New systems, no actuarial data. Telemetry helps, but the operator writes the logs.
The oracle problem
Is the data honest? Attestation and independent sources invite gaming of transparent triggers.
Basis risk
Many narrow triggers fit the metric, not the loss. And everyone calibrates on the same base models.
Correlated failure
One model update can fail millions of agents at once. Reinsurers need to know who in the chain is liable.
Diffuse liability
Developer, integrator, operator, data provider. Without comparable incident data, the loop starts again.
RoboIns works on the link where the loop closes: a common incident format and a neutral registry shared by insurers, regulators and courts.
A standard, a registry, a certification
Three public goods that make the risk of AI agents and robots measurable, comparable and insurable.
RPS-1 Standard
System classes, an eight-parameter risk profile, a library of verifiable triggers and requirements for data oracles. Open text, versioned in public.
Agent Incident Record
One record for every incident: what the system did, under whose mandate, which model and version, what failed and who confirmed it.
Certification
RPS Ready, RPS Verified and RPS Insured: three levels that show how far a system's risk is documented, audited and covered.
RoboIns is not an insurer. The association does not collect premiums, does not carry risk and does not manage third-party assets. Policies based on RPS are issued by licensed insurers.
Three classes of autonomous systems
AI & Software Agents
LLM agents for customers and operations, financial and trading agents, multi-agent and Web3 systems.
Industrial & Logistics Robotics
Industrial manipulators, collaborative robots, mobile AGV and AMR fleets.
Next-Gen Automated Systems
Humanoid robots and unmanned systems in the air, on land and at sea.
From a signed log to a payout, without a years-long dispute
Signed telemetry
The robot or agent writes tamper-evident logs, attested in hardware (TPM/TEE) with trusted time.
Independent oracles
A quorum of independent sources (M of N) confirms that an RPS trigger has occurred.
Calculation agent
An independent calculation agent checks the event. A 7 to 30 day window allows disputes.
Licensed insurer pays
The insurer pays the owner or the injured party according to the policy terms.
Independent by design
The standard belongs to no single company. Insurers, operators, researchers and civil society share the technical council; no group holds a majority.
- President and the majority of the board are independent experts.
- Every version of RPS goes through at least 60 days of public consultation.
- Aligned with the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066.
- The association is set up to become a Swiss foundation.
- Phase 0 · now
Founding
Statutes, seat in Zug, manifesto and RPS-1 v0.1 published for discussion.
- Phase 1
Team
Independent board from Swiss academia and insurance; technical council.
- Phase 2
Pilots
Two or three operators of robots or AI agents; first incident records; calibration of thresholds.
- Phase 3
First policy
A licensed insurer issues cover on RPS triggers; RPS Insured level.
- Phase 4
Scale
RPS-1.0, quarterly incident report, transition to a foundation.
Built together with the people who carry the risk
Insurers
Underwrite on comparable parameters and shared incident data.
Operators & makers
Get access to cover and evidence of AI Act readiness.
Researchers
Shape triggers, thresholds and oracle requirements.
Regulators
A neutral source of anonymised incident statistics.
We are looking for founding members and independent board members
Especially from Swiss universities, the insurance industry and robotics. Join the discussion of RPS-1 or become a member of the association.