10.2. Robot Physical Configurations

Industrial robots come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They are capable of various arm manipulations and they possess different motion systems. This section discusses the various physical configurations of robots. The following section deals with robot motion systems. Section 10.4 is concerned with most of the remaining technical features by which industrial robots are distinguished. Other topics, such as robot programming and gripper devices, are covered in the remaining sections.

Almost all present-day commercially available industrial robots have one of the following four configurations: