Robots are broadly classified as industrial and non-industrial according to their applications. The majority of robots at work today are industrial robots. Industrial robots can be further divided into three groups depending on their levels of intellectual capacity and performance ability: simple robots, medium technology, and sophisticated industrial robots. Simple robots, also called pick-and-place or limited-sequence manipulators,are low cost, easy to keep on-line, and offer significant increases in productivity by virtue of their speed and accuracy. They are ideal for picking up an object and moving it to a machine or onto a conveyor for machining, storing, assembly, or packaging.
Medium technology robots have larger memory capacities and are more easily programmed to perform a wider variety of tasks. They have multiple-step memory and Programmability in their major axes, i.e., wrist rotation, and radial and vertical transverse. They are usually used in single-machine load/unload situations. These applications are such as loading components for die-cast machines, automatic presses, Nc milling machines and CNC lathes.