ABB YuMi IRB 14000

What it's for

Two hands, one job. The YuMi is ABB's first dual-arm cobot, introduced in 2015, and its strength is that it does what a person does with both hands: one hand holds a part, the other inserts, tightens or snaps it in. The payload is just 0.5 kg per arm, but there are as many as 14 degrees of freedom, seven per arm, with force sensors in both. It is a design built for precision assembly of small electronic parts, a world where the weight of a part is measured in grams. Typical tasks are assembling small components, inserting connectors and handling small mechanisms. The symmetry of two hands allows operations that a single arm cannot perform without costly tooling: you have to hold and join at the same time. Safeguards matter: the model has full protection against collision with a person, so it can work next to an operator. The robot weighs 38 kg, so it fits on a workbench and does not need a separate cell. It must be stated clearly where it stops: for carrying heavier parts, tending machines or palletizing, the YuMi is not suitable at all. The manufacturer now focuses new deployments on the GoFa and SWIFTI, and the YuMi remains in the portfolio as a specialist in small things. In factories and laboratories it finds use where precision matters more than pace. In universities it makes an interesting example of a dual-arm design for research on two-handed manipulation.

Who it's for

Yes: for electronics manufacturers who assemble small parts and want symmetrical work with two hands. Yes: for teams designing the cell from scratch around a dual-arm robot. Yes: for universities and research departments interested in two-handed manipulation.

No: for companies looking for a general-purpose cobot; a payload of 0.5 kg per arm is exceptionally little. No: for buyers who need reliable information on price and availability in Poland; the data is of lower confidence, the price is not known, and the local distributor has not confirmed an offer for this model. No: for new deployments without a specific need for a dual-arm design; in that case the current GoFa or SWIFTI will make more sense. You will find the basics of choosing in “How to Buy a Cobot Step by Step”.

Deployments

We have no confirmed YuMi deployments with a company name: no confirmed deployments in Poland, and none from abroad that we could cite. Availability from a Polish distributor has not been confirmed. Among the cobots in cobots, a dual-arm design is a rarity; most models are single-arm designs, and the Polish market is described in, among others, the article on the Doosan brand: “Doosan Robotics: Cobots from the Korean Maker in Poland”. Before deciding, ask ABB for a list of references and available demonstration stations.

ABB GoFa CRB 15000: a newer ABB cobot, 5 kg payload and about PLN 148,000 (≈ EUR 33,910 at NBP rate 4.3641 of 21 October 2026); a single arm, but versatile and currently under active development.

ABB SWIFTI CRB 1300: for fast pick-and-place and assembly tasks, up to 11 kg; a completely different purpose, but the same brand.

Franka Research 3: a single research arm, 3 kg payload, 7 degrees of freedom and a price of about PLN 116,286 (≈ EUR 26,650); in our comparison it is set against the YuMi's dual-arm precision.

DENSO COBOTTA: 0.5 kg payload, 4 kg weight; a light cobot for small operations, single-arm.

UR3e: 3 kg payload, 540 mm reach; for light bench assembly when a dual-arm design is not essential.

The YuMi reached the market in 2015 as ABB's first dual-arm cobot, intended for assembling small electronic parts. ABB is a Swiss-Swedish group with a rich history in industrial robotics, and the YuMi was its first step toward collaborative robots working alongside people. Today the model is in the portfolio, but the company is shifting new deployments to the GoFa and SWIFTI, which came to market later (the SWIFTI in 2021). We have no record of later YuMi generations or other events, only the launch year and the fact that the data on this page is of lower confidence, because it has not been independently confirmed by a second source. We describe a comparison with the classics of the industry in “Cobot or Industrial Robot”.