The intelligent manufacturing strategy is being thoroughly advanced across numerous manufacturing enterprises. Industrial robots are gradually evolving from optional equipment in the past into standard tools for enterprises to enhance core competitiveness. For manufacturers considering automation upgrading, understanding the classification and characteristics of industrial robots is an essential step for model selection and application.

Classification of Industrial Robots

I. Classification by Mechanical Structure

1. Articulated Robots

As one of the most widely adopted structural forms, articulated robots are generally equipped with four to six rotary joints, mimicking the structure of human arms. Among them, six-axis robots are the most common. Featuring outstanding flexibility, they can reach almost any position and posture within the working space.

Features: High flexibility, large working space, wide reach range

Applicable Scenarios: Complex operations such as welding, assembly, handling and spraying

Typical Applications: Automobile body welding, parts assembly

2. Cartesian Robots

Also known as gantry robots, they have three linear motion axes (X, Y, Z) with a cuboid working space. They feature a simple structure, high positioning accuracy and relatively low cost.

Features: Simple structure, high positioning accuracy, strong load capacity

Applicable Scenarios: Handling, loading and unloading, palletizing, dispensing

Typical Applications: Large workpiece handling, machine tool loading and unloading

3. Parallel Robots

Also referred to as Delta robots, they normally adopt three parallel arms to drive the end effector, delivering high speed and high acceleration performance.

Features: Ultra-high speed, high precision, excellent rigidity

Applicable Scenarios: High-speed picking, sorting and packaging

Typical Applications: Food sorting, pharmaceutical packaging, electronic component picking

4. Cylindrical Robots

Equipped with two linear axes and one rotary axis, they operate in a cylindrical working space. With a relatively compact structure, they are suitable for operations within a limited range.

Features: Compact structure, cost-effective

Applicable Scenarios: Simple handling and assembly

Typical Applications: Small parts assembly, material conveying

II. Classification by Functions & Application Fields

1. Welding Robots

Specially designed for welding operations, these robots are fitted with welding torches and dedicated control systems, supporting spot welding, arc welding, laser welding and other welding processes. As one of the most widely used industrial robots, they play an irreplaceable role especially in automobile manufacturing.

Technical Highlights: High-precision trajectory control, welding parameter optimization, weld seam tracking

Typical Applications: Automobile body welding, structural part welding, pipe welding

2. Handling Robots

Dedicated to material transportation, including palletizing robots and machine loading/unloading robots. With strong load capacity and fast movement speed, they replace manual labor to complete heavy handling tasks.

Technical Highlights: Heavy-load performance, high-speed operation, precise positioning

Typical Applications: Heavy goods handling, stacking, machine tool loading and unloading

3. Assembly Robots

Used for component assembly, they are equipped with fixtures and force control systems to perform screw tightening, component insertion, press-fitting and other operations.

Technical Highlights: Force sensing control, high-precision positioning, flexible gripping

Typical Applications: Electronic component assembly, engine assembly, part alignment

4. Palletizing Robots

Specially developed for product stacking, they are widely used in food and beverage, chemical, logistics and other industries. They can stack products neatly in customized patterns to improve warehousing and logistics efficiency.

Technical Highlights: Graphical programming, customizable stacking patterns, multi-specification adaptability

Typical Applications: Finished product palletizing, pallet stacking, warehouse arrangement

5. Inspection Robots

Equipped with various sensors and testing devices for product quality inspection and measurement. Combined with machine vision technology, they realize high-speed and high-precision detection of appearance defects and dimensional measurement.

Technical Highlights: Vision inspection algorithms, multi-sensor fusion, data traceability

Typical Applications: Surface defect detection, dimensional measurement, assembly verification

III. New-Generation Industrial Robots

1. Collaborative Robots (Cobots)

Collaborative robots are professionally designed for safe human–robot interaction in shared working spaces. Unlike traditional industrial robots that require safety fences, cobots are lightweight, easy to install and cost-effective, enabling human-machine collaborative operation.

Technical Features: Built-in safety sensors, collision detection & emergency stop, simple programming, flexible deployment

Application Scenarios: Small-batch production, quality inspection, vocational training

2. Mobile Robots

Mobile robots are capable of autonomous movement, realizing navigation and task execution through sensors, artificial intelligence and supporting software. They play a vital role in material handling and distribution.

Technical Features: Autonomous navigation, dynamic obstacle avoidance, multi-robot collaboration

Application Scenarios: Material transportation, warehouse distribution, workshop inspection

3. Embodied Intelligent Robots

Embodied intelligence represents a cutting-edge development direction for industrial robots. It deeply integrates artificial intelligence with robot bodies, enabling robots to adapt to factory environments independently and perform diversified tasks. Such robots possess both environmental perception and autonomous decision-making capabilities in response to changing working conditions.