A Collaborative Robot Arm Costs $21,000 to $41,000: 336 Cobots Compared by Payload and Reach

Before you buy

A cobot will not pay for itself: run the numbers first

A cobot arm is the cheapest part of a cobot cell. Industry studies have long found that a complete robotic system costs several times the robot itself once tooling, safety and engineering are included, and collaborative arms are no exception.

The most common mistake is comparing the price of the machine with the salary of one employee. A report prepared for the US National Institute of Standards and Technology found that a complete robotic system tends to cost three to four times the robot itself once integration is counted, and the money comes back only when the process around the robot changes. Start with the job and the number you want to move, not with the catalogue.

What you are really paying for

Where the payback actually comes from

Cobots pay back fastest on boring, steady work running two or three shifts: machine tending, palletising, screwdriving, packing. They pay back slowest on one-shift, high-mix work where every changeover eats the gain. Count labour savings only if headcount, overtime or hiring actually change; redeploying a person to another paid job is a benefit only if that job has value.

Six questions to put to every cobot vendor

1. What is the payload at the reach my task needs, not at the flange?
2. Who is responsible for the risk assessment and CE/UKCA or NRTL marking of the cell?
3. Which grippers and vision kits are certified plug-and-play for this arm?
4. What does a turnkey quote include, line by line?
5. Spare parts lead time and local service response in my country?
6. Can my staff re-teach a new product without calling the integrator?

Quick payback calculator

Rough first pass only. Use the prices in the tables on this page, or real country prices from the J2R 100 Robot Price Index.