Collaborative Robot (Cobot) Manufacturers

Collaborative robots are arms designed to work near people without full safety fencing, using force and torque limiting, rounded geometry and speed-and-separation monitoring. Universal Robots created the category commercially in 2008, and cobots are now the fastest-growing segment of arm sales, driven by small and mid-sized manufacturers automating machine tending, screwdriving, packaging and lab work.

The field is crowded. The large industrial makers all sell cobot lines — FANUC CRX, ABB GoFa, KUKA LBR iisy, Yaskawa HC — while specialists such as Doosan Robotics, Techman-derived OMRON TM, Franka, Kinova and a wave of Chinese makers (AUBO, Elite, Dobot) compete on price, ease of programming and ecosystem.

A cobot's collaborative rating covers the arm, not the application: a sharp gripper or heavy part can still require a risk assessment and guarding under ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066. The profiles below list each maker's cobot lines and link to our reference and review pages where available.

By country

• Japan: 7
• Germany: 4
• China: 4
• Switzerland: 2
• South Korea: 2
• Canada: 1
• Denmark: 1

Collaborative Robot (Cobot) Manufacturers

• ABB Robotics — Switzerland · founded 1988 · ABBN.SW — Robotics division of Swiss-Swedish engineering group ABB, whose predecessor ASEA launched one of the first all-electric microprocessor-controlled industrial robots in 1974.
• Agile Robots — Germany · founded 2018 · private — Munich-based spin-off of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) building force-controlled robot arms and AI-driven automation systems.
• AUBO Robotics — China · founded 2015 · private — Beijing-based collaborative robot maker and one of China's early cobot specialists, selling lightweight six-axis arms for assembly, inspection and machine tending.
• DENSO Wave — Japan · founded 2001 · owned by DENSO Corporation — Robotics and automatic-identification subsidiary of automotive supplier DENSO.
• Dobot — China · founded 2015 · 2432.HK — Shenzhen robot maker that started with desktop educational arms and grew into one of China's highest-volume cobot suppliers.
• Doosan Robotics — South Korea · founded 2015 · 454910.KS — One of the world's largest collaborative robot makers, listed on the Korea Exchange in 2023.
• Elite Robots — China · founded 2016 · private — Chinese collaborative robot maker selling low-cost six-axis cobot lines for assembly, packaging and machine tending in China and export markets.
• FANUC — Japan · founded 1972 · 6954.T — One of the world's largest industrial robot makers, with a very large installed base of arms in automotive, electronics and general industry.
• Flexiv — China · founded 2016 · private — Force-controlled 'adaptive robot' maker with offices in Shanghai and Silicon Valley.
• Franka Robotics — Germany · founded 2016 · owned by Agile Robots — Munich maker of torque-sensing seven-axis arms, founded as Franka Emika.
• Kawasaki Robotics — Japan · founded 1896 · 7012.T — Robot division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which built Japan's first industrial robot in 1969 under license from Unimation.
• Kinova — Canada · founded 2006 · private — Canadian maker of lightweight robot arms that began with the JACO assistive arm for wheelchair users.
• KUKA — Germany · founded 1898 · owned by Midea Group — German automation company whose orange robot arms are a fixture of automotive body shops.
• Mitsubishi Electric — Japan · founded 1921 · 6503.T — Japanese electrical and factory-automation conglomerate that sells MELFA industrial robots alongside its PLCs, servos and CNC controls, letting integrators build cells on a single control ecosystem.
• Nachi-Fujikoshi — Japan · founded 1928 · 6474.T — Japanese maker of industrial robots, bearings, cutting tools and hydraulics.
• NEURA Robotics — Germany · founded 2019 · private — German company building 'cognitive' robots with integrated sensing — the MAiRA and LARA cobots, the MAV mobile platform and the 4NE1 humanoid.
• OMRON — Japan · founded 1933 · 6645.T — Japanese industrial-automation company that expanded into robotics by acquiring US robot maker Adept Technology in 2015.
• Rainbow Robotics — South Korea · founded 2011 · 277810.KQ — Founded by the KAIST lab that built the HUBO humanoid, which won the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge.
• Stäubli Robotics — Switzerland · founded 1892 · private — Family-owned Swiss mechatronics group best known in robotics for fast, precise arms suited to cleanroom, food, pharmaceutical and machine-tool work.
• Universal Robots — Denmark · founded 2005 · owned by Teradyne — Danish collaborative robot (cobot) pioneer and wholly-owned subsidiary of Teradyne (NASDAQ: TER).
• Yaskawa (Motoman) — Japan · founded 1915 · 6506.T — Japanese motion-control and robotics company that sells robots under the Motoman brand.

Related robot types

• Industrial Robot Manufacturers — 20 companies
• Humanoid Robot Companies — 32 companies
• Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) Companies — 30 companies
• Quadruped Robot Companies — 6 companies