How to choose a Cobot for your research project?

Collaborative Robots (Cobots) have been one of the most visible success stories of robotics and automation over the last few years.

With their intrinsic qualities and ease of integration the Cobots are being adopted in commercial and research projects worldwide.

Many new and existing robotics manufacturers are offering Cobots that can be used for research projects. Researchers can now chose the best fit Cobot for their projects rather than adopting what is available in the market.

Here are some of the key options and capabilities that researchers should look for while selecting a Cobot:

Degrees of Freedom: Also called DoF for short or number of axis. DoF basically defines the number of independent displacements or aspects of motion that a Cobot is capable of. Most Cobots have 6 or 7 DoFs. The human arm for example has 7 DoFs, so if your project involves mimicking or understanding human arm movements then you need to pick a Cobot with 7 DoFs. If your project involves picking or sorting etc. then 6 DoF Cobots would suffice in most cases unless reaching the object requires complex movement of the Cobot.

Payload & Reach: This is a simple one, most Cobots have payload capacity from 3 KG to 16 KG. However you need to take a deeper look to see if it includes the necessary end of arm tooling, how heavy is the gripper that you want to use? Is the payload calculated at the maximum reach of the arm? It is best to leave some margin for future payloads while deciding on maximum payload capacity. Same goes for the total reach of the Cobot. Please be mindful that the Cobot movement may be limited at maximum reach.

Communication Rate: This will come into play for some typical research projects. For example if you are working on Human Robot Interaction (HRI) or any other project that requires near instantaneous communication you may want to look at the Communication Rate of the Cobot. Some Cobots offer 1 KHz rate as an option which effectively means a 1 ms response time. This is ideal for near instantaneous communication.

Versatility: Your research project may have a narrow scope for now but it may morph into something more demanding or you may want to use your Cobot for different research projects. Versatility is a key attribute but not all Cobots are the same in this regard. You would need to look at the different grippers, sensors and other end of arm tooling that the Cobot can work with.

ROS: Not all Cobots offer out of the box ROS capability and support. If your project is ROS based please ask the Cobot provider for their ROS support. You can also search GitHub and Ros.org for this information.

Force/Torque Sensing: Some Cobots have Force/Torque sensing built into each joint. All Cobots offer external Force/Torque sensing capability. If your project entails sensing you can pick a Cobot that offers more comprehensive sensing capabilities.

Eco-System: You would definitely want to spend time and resources on your research and not on worrying about how to run the Cobot. Some Cobot manufacturers have an extensive Eco-System which includes third party hardware & software solutions and support. You can also find Research App Bundles from some Cobot manufacturers that can save you time and money.

Safety: Most Cobots have similar safety standards. Depending upon your project and how the Cobot interacts with humans you should look at the safety mechanisms and options like safety stop buttons. We should also be mindful of the fact the Cobots are not safe in all scenarios and applications. Cobots do not need to be confined to cages but they still need a "safe collaborative space" to work. A safety assessment, user training and consultation with your Cobot provider is highly recommended.

Mobility: Most Cobots an easily be integrated with mobile platforms. If you want a seamless integration with a mobile platform look for OEM options that some Cobot manufacturers provide. This enables stripping down of the control cabinet and installation of the Cobot electrical within the mobile platform body. Not all Cobots offer this option.

Please feel free to reach out with any specific questions regarding Cobot selection for your research projects. You can also find more details at: https://store.clearpathrobotics.com/collections/manipulators ?