igus · Industrial · 2021
The igus ReBeL is the world's first cobot built around plastic strain-wave gears — a radical cost-and-weight play from the German motion-plastics specialist. At just 8.2 kg with a 2 kg payload, 664 mm reach and ±1 mm repeatability, it deliberately trades precision for affordability and low mass, using igus's self-lubricating tribo-polymer components in integrated joints (motor + strain-wave gearbox + absolute encoder) to hit a price point that opens robotics to SMEs, educators and developers. It runs from 24 V DC through the igus Robot Control (iRC) software — browser-based drag-and-drop programming — with a Python API, ROS driver and Modbus TCP/TCP-IP interfaces, and mounts on tables, mobile bases or gantries. It's not a high-accuracy industrial arm; its niche is accessible, lightweight automation for pick-and-place, inspection, lab work and light assembly where cost and simplicity matter more than sub-millimetre repeatability.
Price on application
View full interactive profile, comparisons & videos →| Category | Industrial |
| Sub-type | Lightweight Plastic Cobot |
| Status | Active |
| Year | 2021 |
| Origin | Germany |
| Weight | 8.2 kg |
| Frame | Tribo-polymer (plastic) — world's first cobot with plastic strain-wave gears |
| Degrees of freedom | 6 |
| Payload | 2 kg |
| Reach | 664 mm |
| Repeatability | ±1 mm |
| Operating system | igus Robot Control (iRC) |
| Actuator type | Integrated motor + tribo-polymer strain-wave gearbox + absolute encoder per joint |
| Use cases | Pick & place, Inspection, Lab automation, Light assembly, Education / SME automation |
| Made in | Germany (Cologne) |
