The Last ControlIndependent shutdown for AI-controlled machines

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Kill switches of the future: who is building them

The companies and projects building a stop the machine's AI cannot override, scored against the five things it needs.

17 scored · 6 not scored · last checked 9 November 2026

How we score

Sits outside the AI
Is the stop separate hardware on its own power path, so the AI cannot reach it?
20 points each
Fails safe when it hears nothing
If the signal or the power is lost, does the machine stop by itself?
20 points each
Leaves the machine in a safe state
Is the end state designed, not just whatever happens when the power goes?
20 points each
Reaches beyond the operator
Can someone other than the operator trigger it, or does it work across more than one site?
20 points each
Evidence we have seen
An independent certificate, test or open design we have read, not the company's word.
20 points each

Scores say how close each one is to what is needed, not how good a product it is. Where a point rests only on the company's word, we say so.

Two ratings come up often. SIL 3 is the top industrial safety rating under IEC 61508. PL e is the top rating under ISO 13849, which runs from PL a up to PL e.

If we have something wrong, tell us.Tell us

Closest to what is needed

Ranked by score out of 100. Open a row to see the five tests.

Group
Showing 17 of 17
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Name
Group
Score out of 100
Verdict

Not scored, and why

LumaLogica
Six hardware lines named, none with a model, specification, price or photograph. Nothing to score yet. Its essay is in the Research Landscape.
Humanistic Robotics
The ancestor of FORT's wireless stop; no longer sold as far as its site shows.
VAVOR.NET AEGIS-HARDWIRE
A blog post and a few untested code files.
RoboStack
A demonstration dashboard on mock data; its stop goes through each robot's own software.
Drone flight-termination makers (Vixos, AVSS, ParaZero) and counter-drone takeover (D-Fend)
Drones are outside this record's scope. They are the most mature independent stops anywhere and we draw on them in the blog.
Established industrial safety vendors (Pilz, SICK, Schmersal, ABB, KUKA, FANUC)
Certified safe-stop functions tied to the robot's own controller; nothing aimed at AI-controlled or humanoid machines found.

How these scores are kept

Certificates or designs we have read
2
We have read the certificate, or the open design and code, for ourselves.
Scored on the company's word alone
13
The company says it and we could not check it.
Scored on paper only
2
Patent filings or plans, with nothing built that we could find.

Every score is dated. Nothing here is older than November 2026.

Who this is for

Robot makers deciding what stop to fit. Buyers asking what they are really getting. Regulators and journalists asking who is closest to a stop the machine's AI cannot override.

Missing someone?

If you build a stop like this and are not listed, tell us.

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