Hardware

Cartesian Robot

A Cartesian robot is a manipulator whose three principal axes are linear and mutually orthogonal, moving the end-effector along X, Y, and Z rails like a gantry. The kinematics are trivially decoupled, giving a rectangular workspace, high repeatability, and simple control, which is why the architecture dominates 3D printers, CNC machines, and pick-and-place gantries. Trade-offs include large footprint relative to workspace and limited dexterity compared to articulated arms.

Why it matters for physical AI

Gantry-style robots remain the workhorses of structured automation, and their simple kinematics make them useful baselines and data collection platforms where full articulated dexterity is unnecessary.