How to Choose an ABB Cobot by Payload and Safety Type

What Each ABB Cobot Family Lifts

ABB sells three cobot families, called GoFa, SWIFTI, and YuMi. Across the cobot guides we publish here, the ABB lineup is the one readers most often treat as a single product. The three ABB cobot families differ by more than payload, and one of them cannot work near people on its own.

GoFa is the general-purpose family. ABB lists GoFa payloads from 5 kg to 12 kg, with reaches up to 1.62 m and a tool center point speed up to 2.2 m/s. That covers most of the machine tending, packing, and material handling a small line automates first.

SWIFTI is the speed family, and it has two members with very different ceilings. ABB rated the original SWIFTI CRB 1100 at 4 kg and a 580 mm reach. That model is now phased out, with spare parts and service still available for cells already running it.

The current SWIFTI CRB 1300 carries 7 kg, 10 kg, or 11 kg across reaches from 0.9 m to 1.4 m. ABB rates its top speed at 6.2 m/s, which is industrial-robot pace, and that pace changes what safety hardware the cell needs.

YuMi is the small-parts family. The dual-arm IRB 14000 carries 0.5 kg per arm across 14 axes, so the two arms can hold a part and work on it at once without a fixture. The single-arm IRB 14050 matches that payload with a 559 mm reach and seven axes, one more than a standard arm, which lets it reach around an obstruction.

At 9.5 kg the IRB 14050 mounts on a bench, a wall, or a ceiling. Neither YuMi lifts more than a phone. ABB built the pair for consumer-electronics assembly and small-parts testing, where the reason to automate is repeatability rather than lifting.

SWIFTI Needs a Safety Laser Scanner That GoFa Does Not

SWIFTI is not a force-limited arm, so it needs a safety laser scanner to work near people. GoFa and YuMi do not. That single difference decides how much floor space and how many parts a cell needs, and it rarely shows up in a side-by-side spec sheet.

GoFa carries torque sensors in all six axes. The arm senses contact and stops on its own, so a GoFa cell can run without a fence once the whole application passes a risk assessment.

YuMi is safe for a different reason. At 0.5 kg with a padded magnesium arm, it puts very little energy into a collision.

SWIFTI takes another route, because ABB builds it for industrial speed rather than for safe contact. ABB pairs it with SafeMove safety software in the controller and a separate safety laser scanner. The robot slows or halts when the scanner sees someone enter its zone, and an interaction light on the arm shows which state it is in.

A SWIFTI cell therefore needs the scanner, its mounting, and the floor area its detection zone occupies. A SWIFTI quote that undercuts a GoFa quote is usually missing those lines.

Settle the safety model before you compare any two ABB cobots on price. The wider question of when a fenced industrial arm beats a collaborative one is answered in our cobot versus robot guide.

• Ask which ABB cobot family the quote is priced around before you read the total.
• Ask whether a safety laser scanner and its mounting sit inside the quote or outside it.
• Measure how much floor area the scanner's detection zone takes out of the cell.
• Name the person who performs the risk assessment on the finished application.
• Ask what the cycle time becomes once the robot slows for an operator.

What Moves an ABB Cobot Quote

ABB publishes payload and reach for every cobot model it sells, so you can shortlist before you talk to anyone. Neither ABB nor FANUC publishes a list price, and both quote by configuration, which our FANUC cobot guide covers in full.

The arm is still the smaller half of what a working cell costs. Tooling, fixtures, safety hardware, and the hours somebody spends teaching the robot are why two quotes for the same GoFa arrive at different totals.

Price the whole cell rather than the arm, using the line-by-line breakdown in our cobot cost guide. Send the same written brief to every supplier, so the numbers that come back describe the same job.

Where ABB Cobots Fit on a Real Line

The clearest ABB cobot application today is arc welding, and it runs on GoFa rather than SWIFTI or YuMi. The Cobot Arc Welding Package uses an Easy Teach device. A welder guides the arm along the joint by hand, and the software writes the program from that path.

ABB states this cuts programming time by around 70 percent, which pays back fastest in a shop where the part changes every week. The package accepts power sources from any major supplier, so a fabricator can keep the welding power source already on the floor and buy only the robot side. Our cobot welding guide covers how the torch, wire feeder, and fume extraction change the total.

Palletized cases usually weigh more than any ABB cobot can lift. GoFa 12 tops out at 12 kg and the SWIFTI CRB 1300 at 11 kg, so a heavier case rules out the whole ABB range before the conversation starts. Weigh the case first, then read our cobot palletizer guide for how payload and reach interact at the pallet.

YuMi earns its place on electronics and laboratory benches. A 0.5 kg payload is enough for connectors, screws, and test fixtures. ABB also gives the single-arm model a cleanroom classification, so it can sit on a medical-device line without an enclosure built around it.

SWIFTI belongs where cycle time is the binding constraint. The CRB 1300 carries up to 11 kg and runs at up to 6.2 m/s, which is why ABB lists palletizing and screwdriving among its jobs. For a shortlist across brands rather than inside one, our top cobots buying guide ranks the families side by side.

• Weigh the heaviest part before you shortlist a model.
• Count how often the part changes, because that decides how much programming time costs you.
• Measure the bench or floor area the finished cell has to fit inside.
• List any power source, gripper, or feeder you want the robot to work with.

ABB Cobots Against Universal Robots and FANUC

ABB is the narrowest of the three on payload and the broadest on safety approach. ABB stops at 12 kg with GoFa 12, while Universal Robots reaches 30 to 35 kg with the UR30 and FANUC reaches 50 kg with the CR-35iB. A shop lifting cases usually ends up outside the ABB range.

ABB instead sells two safety models under one brand. SWIFTI plus a scanner covers a job that needs industrial speed, and GoFa or YuMi covers a fence-free bench with no scanner at all. Universal Robots and FANUC stay inside force-limited designs across their whole collaborative lines.

Choose ABB when the job is under 12 kg and either welding or small-parts assembly. The arc welding package and the YuMi geometry have no direct match at the other two. Choose elsewhere when payload is the constraint, and read the head-to-head detail in our Universal Robots versus ABB comparison.

Who Should Skip ABB Cobots

A shop lifting more than 12 kg should not shortlist an ABB cobot at all. ABB rates GoFa at 12 kg, and quotes up to 14 kg only in a wrist-down configuration. A lighter arm dressed up with extra tooling produces a cell that fails on the first heavy batch.

The FANUC CR-35iB reaches 50 kg instead, and our FANUC cobot guide prices that route.

Classroom and hobby buyers are the second group to route elsewhere. ABB cobots are priced and supported as production equipment. A school gets more teaching hours from the kits in our classroom robotics kits guide.

Two things would change this verdict. If ABB extends GoFa past 12 kg, the payload objection disappears and the comparison reopens on programming and price. If ABB ships a force-limited arm that runs at SWIFTI speed, the scanner line comes off the quote and SWIFTI becomes the default rather than the exception.