Articulated Robot

An articulated robot is a robot arm whose links are connected by rotary joints, most commonly six, giving it the reach and dexterity to position and orient a tool almost anywhere within its working envelope.

The arm resembles a human arm, with a rotating base, shoulder and elbow joints that position the wrist, and a wrist with two or three axes that orient the tool. Six rotary axes give six degrees of freedom, enough to reach a position with any feasible orientation. Many six-axis designs use a spherical wrist, whose axes intersect at a point, which simplifies the inverse kinematics.

Articulated robots are the most widely used industrial robot type, handling welding, painting, material handling, machine tending, palletising and assembly. Four-axis versions are common for palletising, and seven-axis arms add a redundant joint that helps avoid obstacles and singularities in confined spaces.

Key specifications are payload, reach, repeatability, axis speeds, mounting options and protection rating. Their flexibility comes with complexity: programs must avoid kinematic singularities and joint limits, and the large, fast-moving envelope normally requires safeguarding determined by a risk assessment under ISO 10218.

Key points

Uses a serial chain of rotary joints, typically six
Six axes allow both the position and orientation of the tool to be set
Four-axis variants are common for palletising; seven-axis variants add redundancy
Programs must manage singularities, joint limits and reach

Where AiVibe comes in

AiVibe designs and manufactures the AiAmbA AI Factory, whose edge devices and AI agents let people talk to robot controllers in plain language. Robotics perception is an AiAmbA use case, and robot safety functions follow ISO 10218 and never depend on the AI layer.

Explore AiVibe’s work in Robotics & Physical AI →

Related terms

Terms that refer to Articulated Robot

Cartesian Robot (Gantry Robot)Robotics & Physical AI