Universal Robots offers direct torque control for demanding cobot tasks

UR’s Direct Torque Control interface applies to both the e-Series and UR Series and is supported by PolyScope 5 and PolyScope X. | Source: Universal Robots

Universal Robots has announced early access to its Direct Torque Control technology for collaborative robots. The technology gives researchers and developers real-time control of all the joints in a UR cobot at 500 Hz, with no custom stack required.

Having the ability to directly control the torque of all the arm’s joints opens vast opportunities for cobots to carry out demanding tasks, the company said. But even for experienced cobot users and researchers, building your own software stack to enable this is both time-consuming and challenging.

“These capabilities are becoming increasingly sought after within research and education, especially for AI,” stated Anders Billesø Beck, vice president of technology at Universal Robots.

“With our new interface, we’re making it much easier for researchers and partners to work with direct torque control,” he said. “Instead of spending a long time implementing alternative solutions, they can now focus immediately on their research or on developing new, innovative applications using the capabilities already incorporated into our PolyScope software.”

In particular, Beck said direct torque control has potential for applications such as assembly and screwdriving, where precise force and delicate touch are crucial. NVIDIA Robotics has had access to a beta version of the new interface to build an industry use case for gear assembly, showcasing how the torque control interface enables sim-to-real transfer.

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Universal Robots sales slow in 2024, early 2025

Universal Robots is a part of Teradyne Inc.’s robotics group, along with autonomous mobile robot (AMR) provider Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR). UR declined 3% year over year, and MiR grew 1% year over year. Teradyne Robotics laid off 10% of its global staff in January.

So far, Teradyne’s robotics group hasn’t fared better in 2025. According to the company, its robotics revenue was $69 million in Q1 2025, which is down from $98 million in Q4 2024. This also marked a 21% drop in sales in Q1 year over year.

Universal Robots has been a long-time collaborative robot market leader. Earlier this year, the company surpassed 100,000 cobots sold over its lifetime.

But UR isn’t the only company experiencing slower sales. This year, for the first time, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) included cobot statistics in its quarterly North American robot numbers.

Overall, robot sales remained mostly flat from last year, with units ordered increasing 0.4% to 9,064 units. Cobots made up 11.6% of all robots ordered, according to A3.

In May, Universal Robots released the UR15, its fastest cobot yet. The UR15 has a maximum TCP speed of 5 m/s to reduce cycle times, increase productivity, and reduce costs across applications and industries. For pick-and-place applications, the company said the UR15 delivers up to 30% cycle time improvements compared with other UR models.

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