Understanding Robot Specifications 101

Every indus­tri­al robot is defined by cer­tain mea­sure­ments, pay­load, and design fea­tures. Robots​.com lists robot spec­i­fi­ca­tions to help cus­tomers deter­mine which mod­el is right for their appli­ca­tion and facil­i­ty. Learn what robot spec­i­fi­ca­tions mean, and you’ll be able to select the right robot in no time.

Axis Move­ment Specifications: 

Axes - The indi­vid­ual seg­ments of each robot manip­u­la­tor are con­nect­ed with mechan­i­cal joints — each serves as an axis of move­ment. The most com­mon indus­tri­al robots have six axes of move­ment. The num­ber and place­ment of axes deter­mines the flex­i­bil­i­ty of each model. 

Robot Motion Range — Much like the joints between bones, robot axes have lim­its to each move­ment. Every axis has a spe­cif­ic scope of motion. On a typ­i­cal spec­i­fi­ca­tions sheet, the degree of move­ment shows up as pos­i­tive or neg­a­tive degree of move­ment from the cen­ter base posi­tion of each axis. 

Robot Motion Speed — Each axis moves at a dif­fer­ent speed. They are list­ed as degrees trav­eled per sec­ond. Focus on this cri­te­ri­on when you need to match cer­tain speed spec­i­fi­ca­tions for your application. 

Repeata­bil­i­ty - Indus­tri­al robots are known for their accu­ra­cy. But this abil­i­ty to return to an exact loca­tion again and again,known as a robot­’s repeata­bil­i­ty, can vary with each mod­el. More pre­ci­sion-dri­ven appli­ca­tions will require tighter repeata­bil­i­ty fig­ures. Repeata­bil­i­ty is list­ed as a mil­lime­ter of alter­ation plus or minus from the point.

Robot Spec­i­fi­ca­tions for Weight:

Pay­load — The weight capac­i­ty of each robot manip­u­la­tor is its pay­load. This is a crit­i­cal spec­i­fi­ca­tion and includes the tool­ing weight as well. You can rule out a num­ber of robots with this robot spec­i­fi­ca­tion cat­e­go­ry alone. 

Robot Mass — Every robot has a spe­cif­ic weight or mass. This num­ber only indi­cates how much the robot manip­u­la­tor weighs. It does not include the weight of the robot­’s con­troller. This spec­i­fi­ca­tion may not be quite as impor­tant unless you are try­ing to install your robot on a table or shelf.

Spec­i­fi­ca­tions and Work Envelope:

Ver­ti­cal Reach — How high can the robot go? A robot­’s ver­ti­cal reach spec­i­fi­ca­tion refers to the height of the robot when it extends upwards from the base. Use this to deter­mine whether or not a mod­el is tall enough for your appli­ca­tion and location. 

Hor­i­zon­tal Reach — How far can a robot reach? The hor­i­zon­tal reach mea­sures the dis­tance of the ful­ly extend­ed arm — from the base to the wrist. Some appli­ca­tions will require a wider work enve­lope with a big reach, oth­ers are sat­is­fied with a con­tained, short hor­i­zon­tal reach. 

Struc­ture — Robots are engi­neered with dif­fer­ent struc­tures. The most com­mon by far is the ver­ti­cal artic­u­lat­ed type, some­times called a ver­ti­cal joint­ed-arm robot. Oth­er struc­ture types include SCARA, Carte­sian, and par­al­lel kine­mat­ic robots.

If you have a robot spec­i­fi­ca­tions ques­tion con­tact Robots​.com at 877−762−6881 or online to reach a robot specialist.