Techman TM20

What it's for

The TM20 is the heaviest model in the TM5/TM12/TM14/TM16/TM20 family from Techman Robot: 20 kg payload, 1300 mm reach, and a weight of about 33 kg. The arm adds a built-in 5 MP camera, so it does not have to hit the pallet or container blindly: it looks first, then grips.

The first use is palletizing: the robot lifts cartons or crates off the conveyor and stacks them on a pallet, and the camera helps correct for a pallet that is not perfectly positioned. The second is machine tending: loading heavy parts into a machining center or press and removing the finished piece. The manufacturer names these applications directly: material handling, palletizing and feeding machines with heavier parts. In food and pharmaceutical plants the cleanliness class will interest you: the documentation allows ISO 3 cleanrooms, and the arm has IP54 protection (controller IP32, pendant IP40).

In internal logistics the TM20 works well for moving loads between stations, especially where people work alongside and a safety cage would take up valuable floor space. In a small manufacturing firm the robot can take over the heaviest part of the work while the operator stays on quality control (factories, warehouses). Choose the TM20X variant, which has no camera, where the part position is always identical and vision would be an unnecessary cost.

Keep one limitation in mind: 20 kg is the payload including the gripper, so with a heavy vacuum gripper the real weight of the part is lower. The average TCP speed is 1.1 m/s, which is cobot pace, not that of a fast industrial robot, so for very short cycles work out the throughput before you sign the order. Programming is done in TMflow, that is, with flowcharts, which shortens rollout for people without experience in classic robot languages.

Who it's for

The TM20 is for you if you have heavy, repetitive transfer tasks and want the robot to work without a cage next to people. It suits plants that palletize cartons, crates or containers up to about 20 kg with the gripper, and companies that tend machines with heavier parts. Built-in vision will please an integrator who does not want to buy and calibrate a separate camera, and the ISO 3 cleanliness class opens the way to industries with higher hygiene requirements.

It is the wrong choice when you need maximum cycle speed: ±0.1 mm repeatability and an average of 1.1 m/s are enough for assembly and palletizing, but they will not replace a fast robot for pick&place of light small parts. Do not buy it for jobs where the part weighs 25–30 kg either; there you need a heavier class. If you want public prices and quick comparison of offers online, bear in mind that Techman does not publish prices: you have to request a quote from a distributor. For companies with no integrator nearby, we suggest starting with a conversation with one of the two Polish distributors before choosing a model.

Deployments

We have no documented case with a company name and location, and we do not intend to guess. What we do know is that the model is available through Polish distributors, which means ordering and service are possible in the country.

In the wider category, cobots for palletizing and machine tending are among the most common applications in Poland; we point you to the articles “Doosan Robotics: Cobots from the Korean Maker in Poland” and “FANUC CRX: The Cobot Series with 8 Years of Zero Maintenance” and to cobots, where we have collected competing models with a description of their distributors. If you are looking for references, ask the Techman distributor for a list of installations in your industry.

In the 20 kg class the choice is wide and you should compare at least four options.

The UR20 from Universal Robots has a reach of 1750 mm and weighs 64 kg. Choose it if you need a longer reach and the largest ecosystem of accessories and integrators; you will, however, buy the camera separately.

The FANUC CRX-20iA/L offers a 20 kg payload and a 1418 mm reach. It is a good option if your plant is already built on FANUC controllers and you have that brand's service close at hand.

The Doosan H2017 has a 20 kg payload and a 1700 mm reach; it is aimed at machining and palletizing, and in Poland you can buy it through coboty-doosan.pl.

The Yaskawa Motoman HC20DT weighs 140 kg, so it is far heavier than the TM20 (33 kg), but it has a reach of 1700 mm. Choose it when the workstation is fixed and the weight is no problem.

If 20 kg is too little, look at the Techman TM25S from the same brand.

Techman Robot was founded in 2016 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and is tied to the Quanta Storage group. The company built its identity on a single principle: a vision camera as standard in every arm, not as an add-on. The TM20 joined this family as its heaviest model in our catalog covering the TM5, TM12, TM14, TM16 and TM20 series; beyond it there are the separate Techman TM25S and Techman TM30S series, which go further in payload.

Robots of this family are also sold under the partner brand Omron, as the public datasheets show. We found no exact launch date for the TM20, so we do not give one. You will find the manufacturer's history in the profile Techman Robot.