Flexible robots and rigid robots are both types of industrial robots, and the main difference between them 

lies in their structure and usage:

Structure: Flexible robots typically have more flexible body cavities and/or joint structures, allowing for more 

complex form transformations, while rigid robots are composed of rigid rods and their joint connections, with 

relatively fewer degrees of freedom in motion.

Control method: Flexible robots usually use force and visual perception based control systems, while rigid 

robots mainly use programming control.

Application areas: Flexible robots are mainly used in healthcare and service robots, such as surgical robots, 

rescue robots, grass cutting robots, etc; Rigid robots are mainly used in automated production equipment 

such as assembly, spot welding, painting, cutting, etc. on industrial production lines.

Advantages and disadvantages: Flexible robots have the advantages of flexible operation, injury avoidance, 

and strong adaptability, making them more suitable for complex fields that require more degrees of freedom 

control; Rigid robots, on the other hand, have strong load-bearing capacity, high operational accuracy, and 

excellent stability, making them more suitable for fields that require high-quality and high-precision control.

A rigid robot refers to a robot composed of rigid rods and their joint connections, whose joints can move in 

various degrees of freedom. The typical application areas of this type of robot include automated production 

equipment such as assembly lines, spraying, and cutting. Due to the rigidity of its main structure, rigid robots 

have the characteristics of strong load-bearing capacity, high operational accuracy, and excellent stability 

performance.

Compared to rigid robots, flexible robots have more flexible body cavities or joints, allowing them to undergo 

more complex morphological transformations, and these transformations often mimic the free movement of 

the human body. They typically use force and visual perception based control systems, suitable for fields 

such as healthcare and service robots. For example, flexible robots can be used in fields such as surgical 

robots, rescue robots, grass cutting robots, etc. They have advantages such as flexible operation, injury 

avoidance, and better adaptability.

Therefore, compared to rigid robots, flexible robots have better characteristics such as high repeatability

positioning accuracy, high-precision processing, strong adaptability, and the ability to resist external 

interference, making them more suitable for complex fields that require more degrees of freedom control.