Side by side

Dobot CR12A vs Techman TM12S

Two collaborative arms a buyer shopping for machine tending would honestly weigh against each other, with the manufacturer-published figures in one table and a plain reading of what the differences mean on a floor. We sell across brands, so we have no reason to tilt it.

	Dobot CR12A	Techman TM12S
Class	Collaborative arm	Collaborative arm
Payload	12 kg (26 lb)	12 kg (26 lb)
Reach	1200 mm	1300 mm
Sold as collaborative	yes	yes
Applications listed	machine tending, packaging, pick and place	machine tending, packaging, pick and place, inspection
Specs checked	2026-08-26	2026-08-22

Every figure is a manufacturer-published claim, checked on the date shown against the maker's own material, and not one of them survives contact with your part, your rate and your floor without an applications review. Prices are deliberately absent: quotes are prepared by our team and confirmed with the manufacturer.

What the numbers mean on the floor

Payload is effectively a tie at 12 kg and 12 kg. The gripper and the part decide it, not the arm: rated payload is measured at the wrist with no tool on it.
The Techman TM12S reaches 100 mm farther than the Dobot CR12A. That matters for pallet height, bin depth and machine door clearance more than it matters at a bench.
Both are sold as collaborative. That describes a feature set, not a safety verdict: the risk assessment on your part, your gripper and your speed is what decides whether anyone works beside it. Collaborative does not mean fenceless.
Both are listed for machine tending, packaging, pick and place. The Techman TM12S is also listed for inspection.

What a spec sheet cannot tell you

The gripper, the fixture and the integrator decide more of the outcome than the arm. Cycle time on your part is a test, not a datasheet figure. Service footprint, spare parts and who answers the phone at 2 AM differ by brand and by state. And the price difference between two arms in the same class is usually smaller than the difference between two integrators' quotes for the same cell. A model number is not a specification, and the gripper is the project.

From our matrix

Dobot CR12A. Second generation CRA line. 39.5 kg robot weight, repeatability 0.03 mm per Dobot's CRA specification table. Manufacturer specification.

Techman TM12S. Built-in vision is the Techman differentiator.

Also on the shortlist for machine tending

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