Cobot

A cobot (collaborative robot) is a robot category designed to operate safely in shared physical space with humans, without safety enclosures. Distinct from traditional industrial robots, which must be caged. The category is defined by ISO 10218 and ISO/TS 15066 — power-and-force-limiting requirements that effectively mandate compliant actuation, backdrivability, and contact-force regulation. Universal Robots' UR series established the modern cobot category in the 2010s.

The distinction matters because the current humanoid wave is largely a cobot story. Apollo, Digit, and Figure 03 are designed for warehouse environments where humans work alongside them; the mechanical and control architectures all derive from cobot-safety constraints. Boston Dynamics' Atlas, which uses hydraulic and high-output electric actuators, is on the traditional-industrial side of the line and relies on workspace separation. The cobot-vs-traditional-industrial distinction predicts where each humanoid platform can actually be deployed.