Fraunhofer IPA · care humanoid
Care-O-bot 4
The fourth Care-O-bot: a modular wheeled service robot with a display head that can show moods, a turning torso, and zero, one or two 7-joint arms with simple grippers. Specs are for the fully configured robot; battery life is.
- Price
- —about $66,000 to $232,000 depending on configuration; no maker list price
- Height
- 158 cmTaller than 38%
- Weight
- 140 kgHeavier than 92%
- Payload
- 5 kgCarries more than 22%
- Speed
- 4.0 km/hFaster than 39%
- Battery
- 5 hRuns longer than 59%
Not sure this is the one? Find the best robot for your job Starts with: greet and guide customers. Five more quick questions.
Why it matters
Care-O-bot 4 is on the market today.
Real-world use
Debuted as a shopping assistant in stores in November 2016 and used as a museum and information robot.
Maker
Fraunhofer IPAGovernment lab · Stuttgart, GermanyHow it stacks up
Against other humanoids that publish the figure. Pick a measure.
Care-O-bot 4 is taller than 38% of the 305 other humanoids that publish a height. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Care-O-bot 4 is heavier than 92% of the 277 other humanoids that publish a weight. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Care-O-bot 4 is faster than 39% of the 122 other humanoids that publish a speed. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Care-O-bot 4 carries more than 22% of the 132 other humanoids that publish a payload. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Care-O-bot 4 has more joints than 42% of the 236 other humanoids that publish a joints. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Care-O-bot 4 runs longer than 59% of the 119 other humanoids that publish a battery. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Not published by the maker: price.
What it has been shown doing
1 of 14 skills we track, each from a public video or report. Demos can be staged or remote-controlled; we say so when the source does.
- Works on siteFraunhofer press release: premiere as an in-store shopping assistant (Nov 2016) · Nov 2016 · care-o-bot.de
Not shown yet:SortAssembleFoldKitchenToolsFineStairsTerrainGet upRunJumpCarryAutonomous
Public attention
How much public attention Care-O-bot 4 gets, from open data.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- 2 news stories from reputable press listed on this page
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-14; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
The parts the company has talked about publicly.
- Movement
- Wheeled base · 29 joints
- Chip
- NUC mini PC (Core i5/i7) (Intel)Four to six Intel NUC i5 PCs spread through the base, torso, head and sensor ring.
- Actuators & motors
- 29 DoF overall. Arms use Schunk Powerball modules (PRL100, ERB145, ERB115) over CANopen; patented spherical joints at neck and hip (1+3 DoF each, up to 200 deg/s, +/-360 deg) let it bow while a counter-moving part keeps balance; omnidirectional base up to 1.1 m/s.
- Hands
- Optional 7-DoF arms (about 90 cm reach, 5 kg payload) ending in a one-finger gripper (2 DoF) co-developed with Schunk, with a built-in RGB-D camera, lights and a laser pointer; a tray can replace a hand.
- Sensors & vision
- Three safety laser scanners with safety PLC, RGB-D camera in each gripper, cameras for person and gesture recognition, microphone for speech recognition, sensor ring module.
- Compute
- 4 to 6 Intel NUC i5 computers (8 GB RAM, 256 GB each) distributed through base, torso, head and sensor ring; Gigabit Ethernet inside.
- Battery & power
- 48 V lithium-ion battery with 48 V / 10 A external charger.
- Materials & build
- Internal structure largely folded sheet metal for low-volume production; 158 cm tall, 140 kg. Design by Phoenix Design.
- AI & software
- Open software interfaces for developers (ROS-based Care-O-bot community carried over from Care-O-bot 3).
- Other details
- Modular: arms, spherical joints and sensors are optional, and the base can run alone as a serving trolley. 15-inch head touchscreen shows moods; LED ring on the torso; 2-channel wireless e-stop and Safe-Torque-Off.
Named suppliers:ROS (Open Robotics)IntelSCHUNK
From the maker
Care-O-bot 4 is the only humanoid from Fraunhofer IPA and Mojin Robotics in the atlas.
Watch Care-O-bot 4
Made, sold and where
Unit counts are usually company figures; analysts often disagree.
- Price
- Not publishedabout $66,000 to $232,000 depending on configuration; no maker list price
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
- Built
- Small-batch production
- Sold or delivered
- Commercialised by Fraunhofer spin-off Mojin Robotics; unit sales not reported
- Where it is sold or used
- Stuttgart, Germany (Fraunhofer IPA; Mojin Robotics)
- Customers and pilots
- Saturn electronics stores (sales assistant 'Paul')
News
The latest 2, newest first. Summaries are ours; tap through for the original.
- Mojin Robotics wins Fraunhofer start-up award
The IPA spin-off commercialising Care-O-bot 4 won a EUR 5,000 award; its 'Paul' assistant had won an EHI retail award at Saturn.
Fraunhofer - Fraunhofer IPA launches Care-O-bot 4
IPA presented the modular fourth-generation service robot developed over three years with Phoenix Design and Schunk.
Fraunhofer IPA
Side by side with its peers
Picked by the same rules for every humanoid: another maker’s robot that moves the same way, is at the same stage and does at least one of the same main jobs, first shown within two years. Closer size and price rank higher. Few robots match closely, so these are the nearest matches. How we choose
| Measure | Care-O-bot 4Fraunhofer IPA and Mojin Robotics |  TIAGoPAL RoboticsSame jobs: care, home · Both on wheels · Both on sale or in pilots |  Cloud Ginger (XR-1)CloudMinds (DataA Robotics)Same jobs: retail, care · Both on wheels · Both on sale or in pilots · Similar size |  EMIEW3HitachiSame job: retail · Both on wheels · Both on sale or in pilots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2015-01-15 | 2015-02-04 | 2019 | 2016-04-08 |
| Status | Commercial | Commercial | Commercial | Pilot use |
| Height | 158 cm | — | 158 cm | 90 cm |
| Weight | 140 kg | — | 62 kg | 15 kg |
| Joints | 29 | — | — | 23 |
| Speed | 4 km/h | — | — | 6 km/h |
| Payload | 5 kg | — | — | — |
| Battery | 5 h | — | — | — |
| Price | — | — | — | — |
Sources
Figures come from the maker. Every link below backs something on this page.
Photos and logos only identify each robot and its maker. Simbeing is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsing any company, and nothing here is advertising. Figures are for statistics only and are not advice of any kind. Terms of use