The IRB 1700 family handles welding, sanding and material movement, with ABB reporting lower cycle times and long oil-change intervals.
ABB Robotics is expanding its industrial robot lineup with the IRB 1700 and IRB 1700ID. Design World reports that ABB will demonstrate the compact robots in arc welding and sanding at the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai, October 12–16, 2026.
The family comes in five variants with payloads from 6 to 12 kilograms. ABB says the robots have a footprint 50% smaller than their predecessor, which could help plants fit automation into tight cells while preserving space for fixtures, guarding and operator access.
The robots are designed for material handling, arc welding, deburring, sanding and machine tending. ABB reports path repeatability of up to 0.03 millimeters and joint speeds of up to 700 degrees per second, specifications that matter when a robot must repeat the same motion accurately at production speed.
The IRB 1700ID uses ABB’s Integrated Dressing design. It routes cables and hoses inside the robot arm, which may make installation easier in cells where exposed lines could interfere with movement or equipment layout.
ABB reports cycle times up to 20% shorter than comparable robots and power consumption up to 15% lower. It also reports service intervals of up to 20,000 hours between oil changes. These figures are company-reported comparisons, so plants should test them against their own workload before building a payback case.
The family works with ABB software such as RobotStudio and automatic collision-free path planning. The next practical step for an operations team is a cell review covering reach, payload, safety space, tooling, integration cost and the production conditions used to validate ABB’s claims.