Collaboration humans and robots in close proximity in a shared workspace is a stimulating feature of Industry 4.0. Collaborative robotics solution provides for the production processes the benefits due to the characteristic properties of robots. These properties include high level of accuracy, speed and repeatability. In combination with the flexibility and cognitive skills of humans the process of human-robot interaction achieves an efficient human-robot collaboration. Today’s topical issue research include problems of developing safer robots in human-machine systems. In considering the issue of safety human-robot interaction should be taken into account regulations and standards. A key challenge of human-robot collaboration is deciding how to distribute functions between human and robot to provide efficient interaction. This paper is a review on history of the robotic automation and modern research including Russian experience.