How motor design enables different types of robots

Different types of robots, such as this cobot arm, rely on different motors for precise motion. Source: Adobe Stock

Industrial six-axis robots often integrate frameless motors at their axes. Over the past decade, permanent-magnet brushless servomotors have come to dominate. Increasingly common in six-axis robotic assemblies are frameless and direct-drive variations.

A high motor pole count (with strain-wave gearing) yields high torque output and low cogging. Often completing such...