Rethink Robotics (USA) Rethink Robotics Baxter (1)

Rethink Robotics (USA) Rethink Robotics Baxter (2)

Was $22,000 (2012)Launch price including a year of software updates and warranty, per IEEE Spectrum.

Discontinued · used/leftover onlyVia SSH / web / bridgeDual-armAnimated faceROS research editionHistoric

Possibly ≤ 1 weekShipping: Used market. Discontinued in 2018. Used research units occasionally appear from university surplus and resellers, with no manufacturer support.

Remote control: A Linux laptop joins Baxter's ROS master over Ethernet and commands it via the Python baxter_interface library.

Wikipedia ↗IEEE Spectrum (2012) ↗baxter_interface ↗

Overview

Rodney Brooks' two-armed factory worker with a screen face, series elastic actuators and teach-by-demonstration programming, launched at a then-shocking $22,000. Commercial sales underwhelmed and production ended in 2018, but the research edition became a fixture in university labs for human-robot interaction and learning work.

Specifications

Category	Robot arms · Industrial & legacy
Released	2012
Availability	Discontinued · used/leftover only
Programmability	Full SDK
Best for	Professionals & labs
Vision sensors	Camera, Sonar / ultrasonic
Actuators	Unknown
Audio	No audio
Compute type	x86 PC (Intel / AMD)
Remote control	Via SSH / web / bridge
DOF	14 (7 per arm)
Reach	1,210 mm
Payload	2.2 kg (5 lb) incl. end effector
Repeatability	Not published
Weight	75 kg (165 lb) without pedestal, 139 kg (306 lb) with
Controller	Internal PC: Intel Core i7-3770, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, running ROS
Sensors	Head, left and right wrist cameras, IR range sensors in the hands, sonar in the head, series elastic actuators for force sensing
SDK	Baxter Research Robot SDK: ROS with Python `baxter_interface`