Flexible Cobots Target High-Mix, Low-Volume Production

A two-handed cobot duo is reshaping high-mix, low-volume lines right at the show floor where automation vendors clash with the old belief that “one gripper fits all.”

At AW 2026, the Smart Factory & Automation Industry Exhibition, Techman Robot Korea and Tesollo unveiled an articulated, multi-jointed grasping system designed to tackle the unpredictability of high-mix, low-volume production. The centerpiece is a TM cobot arm paired with Tesollo’s Delto gripper, a combination the vendors say is tuned for quick part-changeovers and a broader range of applications than traditional end-effectors.

Production data shows the collaboration has room to scale. Tesollo’s DG-5F-S five-fingered gripper has already moved into the company’s lineup, and Tesollo confirms a number of Korean customers—Samsung, LG Electronics, and Hyundai—are in their books, with “too many U.S. orders to list,” according to Jaesuk Choi, strategic planning team manager at Tesollo. The two firms emphasized teleoperation where a humanoid hand works in tandem with a TM arm, a capability they’ve demonstrated previously, underscoring a push toward adaptive grasping that could extend processes challenging for conventional automation.

One practical detail anchors the discussion: the Delto gripper’s maximum payload is 20 kg (44 lb). A camera can be mounted underneath the gripper to aid grasp planning and alignment, a straightforward enhancement for process visibility in dynamic, change-heavy lines. That arrangement—gripper, robot, and optional vision—speaks directly to the core demand of high-mix, low-volume environments: the ability to swap parts quickly without a forklift of retooling.

Industry observers say the combination could reduce the non-value-added time that plagues small-batch lines, where changeovers and gripper swaps often dominate downtime. But as with most high-mix automation plays, the real test is deployment metrics. The vendors have not published cycle-time or throughput improvements tied to this particular pairing, nor any payback data from actual production runs. In other words, the AW 2026 demonstration lays out capability, not ROI, and readers should watch for ROI documentation as installations scale.

There are clear practitioner implications beyond the soft numbers. Integration teams will need to allocate space for a TM arm plus Tesollo’s gripper, ensure power delivery and network access for any sensors or cameras, and schedule operator training for gripper reconfiguration and vision setup. The article notes a camera can be mounted under the Delto gripper, which implies more complex calibration and MES/ERP data handling to capture job-specific grasp strategies and part libraries.

What remains to watch, from a floor-ops perspective, are the inevitable tradeoffs. High-mix lines can benefit from flexible automation, but they still require humans for critical tasks: final inspection, packaging, post-pick handling, and exception management when a part’s geometry throws off a robotic grasp. Even with teleoperation and adaptive grasping, there will be parts that demand human judgment or fallback strategies—two realities that drive labor-alignment decisions and cost-of-ownership calculations.

Hidden costs, too often left unmentioned, include software licensing for adaptive grasping modules, ongoing gripper maintenance, and the overhead of calibrating cameras for each new batch. Operators may need hours of training to switch between part families, update part libraries, and troubleshoot sensor data streams that accompany a mixed-production run. In short, the promise of a flexible, 20-kg-capable end effector sits atop an integration stack that still demands careful budgeting and hands-on discipline.

Still, the signal is clear: large brands with high-mix demand are watching this approach closely. If deployment data begin stacking up—cycle-time gains, reduced line downtime, and a credible payback window—the Tesollo-Techman pairing could become a recurring fixture in lines that once depended on a single fragile automation concept. For now, the AW demonstration signals intent: the automation playbook is shifting from fix-it-once to adapt-it-often.

Sources

Tesollo and Techman Robot unveil robot for high-mix, low-volume production