Hardware

Payload

Payload is the maximum mass a robot can carry while meeting its rated speed, accuracy, and duty-cycle specifications, measured at the end effector for manipulators or as transported load for mobile robots. The quoted figure must include the gripper's own mass, and manufacturers also specify allowable moments and inertias, since an offset load stresses joints more than the same mass held close to the wrist.

Why it matters for physical AI

Payload budgets constrain everything from gripper and camera selection to which tasks a platform can address, and the payload-to-weight ratio is a key figure of merit for mobile manipulators and humanoids.