Hardware

Serial Robot

A serial robot is a manipulator built as an open kinematic chain, with links connected end to end by joints from a fixed base to the end-effector, so each actuator carries all the links and motors distal to it. Most industrial six-axis arms and SCARA robots are serial. The architecture offers a large workspace and simple kinematics relative to parallel mechanisms, at the cost of lower stiffness and accumulated joint errors along the chain.

Why it matters for physical AI

Serial arms dominate the platforms on which manipulation policies are trained and deployed, and their cantilevered structure shapes payload, compliance, and calibration behavior that learned controllers must absorb.