22 April 2026 
ABB Robotics has launched a new family of cobots (collaborative robots) that, it says, combine the flexibility of cobots with the higher payloads and performance of industrial robots. The PoWa cobots have payloads from 7–30kg, “best-in-class” top speeds of 5.8m/s, and the longest reaches and arm loads on the market.
ABB says that the new family addresses a long‑standing gap in the market between cobots, that often lack the speed and payload needed for industrial applications, and industrial robots, which are designed for specialised, large-scale automation environments, going beyond the needs of many collaborative tasks.
ABB is targeting the rapidly expanding global cobot market, which it estimates will grow at an annual rate of 20% in the period to 2028.
“Cobots are growing significantly faster than traditional industrial robots, driven by demands from both small and mid-sized companies starting their automation journey as well as large enterprises,” says ABB Robotics’ head of collaborative robots, Andrea Cassoni. “These customers are seeking higher speeds and payloads, but also greater ease of use, and compact designs.
“Established manufacturers want to automate heavier, fast cycle applications, without the complexity and operational rigidity of traditional industrial robots,” he adds. “We are meeting these needs with the global launch of our high-speed PoWa cobot family – a name that symbolises its powerful, industrial-grade performance in a compact collaborative robot form.”
The cobots are aimed at applications such as high-speed machine tending, palletising, screwdriving and arc welding, They will allow manufacturers to automate heavier and faster processes, while maintaining the flexibility, ease of use and compact footprints.
ABB says the cobots can be unboxed and working within an hour. They will work in a plug-and-play manner with a wide range of tools, blending industrial-grade connectivity and performance with cobot flexibility.
The cobots have programmable buttons on an arm-side interface and support no-code programming. They are compatible with a wide range of third-party accessories.
The PoWa cobots are powered by ABB’s OmniCore controllers and can be integrated with its AI-powered software, including Robot Studio and Wizard Easy Programming, for intuitive programming, fast deployment and extended uptime.
The PoWa cobots are part of a new generation of intelligent, flexible, adaptative, multi-skilled robots from ABB that can learn, understand and plan independently, giving them greater autonomy and versatility.
A new capability called EyeMotion will allow users to create vision programs by dragging and dropping functional blocks in an intuitive interface, enabling fast image acquisition and accurate recognition. The software – an add-on to the Robot Studio software – will work with any vision hardware to generate collision-free paths.
ABB is in the process of selling ABB Robotics to the Japanese investor SoftBank Group (SBG) for $5.375bn. The transaction is expected to close later this year.
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