Okuzeka
Robotics & Automation vocabulary · Robot Types and Components

Reach

Meaning in robotics & automation, with examples

/riːtʃ/nounCore term

In robotics & automation, reach means: The maximum distance a robot arm can extend from the center of its base, usually given in millimeters to the wrist. It sets how large an area the robot can work in.

In Turkish: erişim mesafesi, uzanma mesafesi, erişim

How it is used

Listed next to payload in every robot data sheet: a 10 kg robot with 1,400 mm reach. As a verb it is used for points: the robot can or can't reach a position. Engineers check reach in simulation before ordering a robot.

Example sentences

  1. The robot can't reach the far corner of the pallet; we need a model with more reach.

  2. Check the reach in simulation before we confirm the layout.

Common collocations

  • maximum reach
  • long-reach robot
  • reach a point
  • out of reach
  • payload and reach
  • payloadThe maximum weight a robot can carry at its flange while keeping its rated speed and accuracy. It includes the gripper or tool as well as the part.
  • work envelopeThe full three-dimensional space a robot can reach with its wrist or tool, shown in the data sheet as side and top views of the reachable area.
  • robot armThe moving mechanical part of a robot, made of links connected by joints, that brings the tool at its end into position. Technical texts also call it the manipulator.
  • industrial robotA programmable machine, usually an arm with several axes, that does production tasks such as welding, painting, handling or assembly on its own and with high repeatability.
  • offline programmingWriting and testing robot programs on a computer using a 3D simulation of the robot and its cell, instead of teaching points on the real robot with the pendant.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Robot Types and Components

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: