In order to reduce the risk of damage on external objects, material articles or persons during the operation of a robot, particularly a miniature robot, the invention provides a method for limiting the force action of a robot part, such as a robot arm, on such an external object during a collision in such a way that as a result of a maximum permitted force, maximum force F.sub.max, acting on the object in the case of a collision, a corresponding, maximum permitted kinetic energy, maximum energy E.sub.kin,max of the robot part is determined, continuously and at adequately short time intervals the actual kinetic energy, actual energy E.sub.kin, of the robot part is determined and on exceeding the maximum permitted energy E.sub.kin,max, the actual operating speed V of the robot is reduced.