engineering

Robotic arm

Robotic arm is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robotic arm rather than just read about it. In short: A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or translational (linear) displacement.

Key takeaways

Robotic arm belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Robotic arm to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Robotic arm from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or translational (linear) displacement. The links of the manipulator can be considered to form a kinematic chain. The terminus of the kinematic chain of the manipulator is called the end effector and it is analogous to the human hand.

Classification

A serial robot arm can be described as a chain of links that are moved by joints which are actuated by motors. An end-effector, also called a robot hand, can be attached to the end of the chain. As other robotic mechanisms, robot arms are typically classified in terms of the number of degrees of freedom (DOF). Usually, the number of DOF is equal to the number of joints that move the links of the robot arm. At least six DOF are required to enable the robot hand to reach an arbitrary pose (position and orientation) in three dimensional space. Additional DOF allow to change the configuration of some link on the arm (e.g., elbow up/down), while keeping the robot hand in the same pose. Inverse kinematics is the mathematical process to calculate the configuration of an arm, typically in terms of joint angles, given a desired pose of the robot hand in three-dimensional space.

Types

Articulated robot: Used for assembly operations, diecasting, fettling machines, gas welding, arc welding and spray-painting. It is a robot whose arm has at least three rotary joints. Cartesian robot / Gantry robot: Used for pick and place work, application of sealant, assembly operations, handling machine tools and arc welding. It is a robot whose arm has three prismatic joints, whose axes are coincident with a Cartesian coordinator. Cylindrical robot: Used for assembly operations, handling at machine tools, spot welding, and handling at die casting machines. It is a robot whose axes form a cylindrical coordinate system. Humanoid robot: It is shaped anthropomorphically, i.e. with independent fingers and thumbs. Parallel robot: One use is a mobile platform handling cockpit flight simulators. It is a robot whose arms have concurrent prismatic or rotary joints. SCARA robot: Used for pick and place work, application of sealant, assembly operations and handling machine tools. This robot features two parallel rotary joints to provide compliance in a plane. Spherical robot / Polar robot: Used for handling machine tools, spot welding, die casting, fettling machines, gas welding and arc welding. It is a robot whose axes form a polar coordinate system.

Notable robotic arms Four notable manufacturers of robotic arms include FANUC, ABB, Yaskawa, and KUKA. FANUC was established in Japan in 1972. As of 2023, it has shipped over 1 million robots. In 2022, VW Group purchased 1,300 FANUC arms for automobile production. Additionally, FANUC announced in 2025 that it had sold 50 more robots for car painting. In November 2025, FANUC unveiled a new robot arm aimed to target food handling and cleaning applications. ABB was established in Switzerland in 1988. In October 2025, ABB announced that its industrial robotics division was sold to the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for USD5.4 billion. In May 2025, ABB showed off a collaboration with California restaurant Burgerbots. The arms were capable of assembling customized burgers in under 30 seconds. Yaskawa was established in Japan in 1915 and started developing the MOTO arm series in the 1960’s. Their first robot arm, the Motoman-L10, started production in 1977. In 2021, Yaskawa announced that over 500,000 Motoman robots had been sold. Yaskawa Europe has partnered with the Netherlands-based vision AI company Fizyr to create industrial robot arms, with ventures in automotive manufacturing and dishwashing. KUKA was established in Germany in 1898 and began industrial robot development in 1971. In 1973, KUKA introduced FAMULUS, the first electric six-axis robot arm. In 2008, KUKA released the KR 1000 Titan, which was the first robot arm capable of lifting 1000 kilograms. Since at least 2014, Tesla automotive factories have used KUKA arms to manufacture products like the Model X, the Model 3, and the Cybertruck. In space, the Canadarm and its successor Canadarm2 are examples of multi-DOF robotic arms. These robotic arms have been used to perform a variety of tasks such as inspection of the Space Shuttle using a specially deployed boom with cameras and sensors attached at the end effector, and also satellite deployment and retrieval manoeuvres from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle. The Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the planet Mars also use robotic arms. Additionally, Perseverance has a smaller sample caching arm hidden inside its body below the rover in its caching assembly. TAGSAM is a robotic arm for collecting a sample from a small asteroid in space on the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx. The 2018 Mars lander InSight has a robotic arm called the IDA, which has a camera, grappler, and is used to move special instruments.

Low-cost robotic arms In the 2010s, the availability of low-cost robotic arms increased substantially. Low-cost arms have been marketed as hobby or educational devices and have found use in laboratory automation, like their use as autosamplers. Reductions in cost have been made possible by selling DIY robot arm kits, where consumers purchase servo motor kits from licensed distributors and 3D print the links and other parts from files online. One example of a low-cost arm is the Standard Open Arm from HuggingFace, who released their SO-101 robot arm model in April 2025 with pricing starting as low as USD100. Open-source robotics arms such as MeArm have further reduced costs and enabled iterative community improvements to designs. In 2024, HuggingFace released LeRobot, an open-source Python library designed for helping in the robot learning process. LeRobot supports the SO-101 and SO-100 models along with other low-cost arms such as the Koch v1.1 arm and the LeKiwi mobile robot.

Robotic hands

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Robotic arm: 6 Axis Articulated Robots from KUKA — 6 Axis Articulated Robots from KUKA

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robotic arm

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robotic arm claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Robotic arm before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Robotic arm ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Robotic arm

In research: Robotic arm appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Robotic arm in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Robotic arm is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Arm, Robotic manipulation, Robotic manipulators, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robotic arm outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Robotic arm in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robotic arm means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Robotic arm out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robotic arm in simple terms?

Why does Robotic arm matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Robotic arm?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Robotic arm.