UR10e

What it's for

The UR10e is a six-axis cobot from Universal Robots with a 12.5 kg payload and 1,300 mm reach, which the manufacturer says is its best-selling model. It has the footprint of a desktop arm (weighing 33.5 kg) yet reaches places the UR5e cannot.

The first application is palletizing and packing (warehouses, factories): the robot picks cartons off the conveyor and stacks them on a pallet, with the layers following different patterns. The 1,300 mm reach gives room to work over the pallet, but for tall stacks you need to check this against the cell layout. The second is machine tending: loading a CNC machine tool, press or injection molding machine, where the robot picks up a blank, puts it in the machine and sets down the finished part.

The third is pick and place on a line and assembly of larger components. The force/torque sensor (100 N / 10 Nm) on the tool flange lets the robot “feel” contact, which helps when inserting shafts into holes and when sanding with controlled pressure. A repeatability of ±0.05 mm per ISO 9283 and a TCP speed of up to 4 m/s are enough for most assembly tasks.

That last figure needs a caveat: 4 m/s is a maximum, and in collaborative mode speeds are limited by the risk assessment. We write more about this difference in the piece on standards, “Robot Safety Standards”. In laboratories (laboratories) the UR10e can be too big; there the UR5e or UR3e is the more common pick.

Who it's for

Makes sense for: mid-sized manufacturing plants and logistics firms with repetitive pallet and machine tasks that have neither the space nor the budget for a classic fenced industrial robot cell. Integrators who need a proven platform with a large community and a wide range of grippers, for example from Robotiq and OnRobot. Companies that want to train their technicians on equipment that is the market standard.

Less suited to: those who need a payload above 12.5 kg with gripper and part combined, in which case you need the UR16e or UR20. Not for tasks requiring very high speed, since a cobot is by design slower than a classic industrial robot. And not for companies that buy a robot with no plan for the gripper, safeguarding and training: the robot alone is only part of the cost.

If you are not sure whether you need a cobot or a classic robot, see the piece “Cobot or Industrial Robot”. We describe the first steps in the guide “How to Buy a Cobot Step by Step”.

Deployments

The sources we have describe no confirmed UR10e deployments at specific Polish plants; in the sense that we cannot name a single company along with a source, there are no confirmed deployments in Poland. What we do know is that Universal Robots has a network of authorized integrators and distributors in Poland (elmark.com.pl), so access to deployment expertise is good.

We describe how the cobot market looks in Poland in the pieces on “Doosan Robotics: Cobots from the Korean Maker in Poland” and “FANUC CRX: The Cobot Series with 8 Years of Zero Maintenance”. The cobots category has the full lineup of models.

UR5e is the smaller sibling: 5 kg payload, 850 mm reach, about 128,000 PLN (≈ EUR 29,330) in Poland by our figures. The choice when parts are light and space is limited; a detailed comparison is in the piece “Universal Robots UR5e, UR10e and UR20 Compared”.

UR16e raises the payload to 16 kg at a 900 mm reach: better for heavy parts, worse for palletizing from a distance.

UR20 is a newer design with 20 kg payload and 1,750 mm reach, intended for heavy palletizing and CNC tending.

Techman TM12 is the closest rival in the same class: 12 kg and 1,300 mm, with a built-in 2D camera, available through TFM Robotics. Having the camera as standard saves vision integration.

Doosan M1013 and FANUC CRX-10iA are 10 kg alternatives with 1,300 mm reach: the Doosan through Transition Technologies-CS, the FANUC through spawalnictwo.pl. For each, ask about price and service, because there are no public price lists.

Universal Robots was founded in 2005 in Odense, Denmark, and it was this company that kicked off the cobot market at scale. In 2015 it was acquired by the American company Teradyne. The “e” family with the UR10e appeared in 2018 as the successor to the original series, with a force/torque sensor on the tool flange and the PolyScope screen.

Later models in the same line are the UR16e (from 2019, 16 kg payload) and the newer UR20 (from 2023, 20 kg), so the family grew gradually upward in payload. A short comparison of the three main models is in the article on “Universal Robots UR5e, UR10e and UR20 Compared”.