Cobot

A robot arm designed to work beside people without a safety cage, by limiting its speed, force and the energy of any contact.

• It detects unexpected contact through torque sensors in its joints or changes in motor current, and stops or backs off within milliseconds.
• Standards (ISO/TS 15066) set allowable contact force and pressure for each body region, which directly caps how fast and hard it may move.
• Payloads are usually modest, roughly 3–30 kg, and speeds lower than caged industrial robots, so throughput is lower.
• The payoff is flexibility: it can be taught by physically guiding the arm and redeployed in hours, which suits small batches and changing tasks.