Robot Teach Pendants by Brand: The Screen Runs 6.4 to 12 Inches, and Two Makers Contradict Themselves on IP

The teach pendant is the only part of an industrial robot that a human holds for an entire shift, and it is the part almost nobody puts on the requirements list. It is also, on most quotes, an option with a part number rather than something that arrives in the crate. Across the nine brands in our database that record one, the screen an operator squints at runs from 6.4 inches to 12 inches, the device they hold runs from 0.75 kg to 1.4 kg, and the ingress protection runs from IP30 to IP54. None of those spreads track the size, price or payload of the robot underneath.

Two things came out of checking every one of those figures against the manufacturer’s own current document. The first is that the pendant is a property of the controller and the software generation, not of the arm, which is why one brand name can mean three different devices. The second is that two of the four manufacturers who publish an IP rating for their pendant contradict themselves inside a single document, and in both cases the difference is the one that decides whether the thing survives your cell.

What every brand actually publishes

Every figure in this table comes from the manufacturer’s own current page, datasheet or manual, read directly rather than taken from a summary. A dash means the manufacturer does not publish that number, not that we could not be bothered to look.

Brand	Pendant	Screen	Resolution	Weight	IP rating	Cable
ABB	FlexPendant (option 3016)	8”	1024 x 768	—	IP54 or IP65, see below	3 m / 10 m / 30 m, retractable 4 / 10 / 20 m
Doosan	TP-01	10.1”	—	0.8 kg	IP30 or IP20, see below	4.5 m
Dobot	CRA Series Teach Pendant	10.1” HD capacitive	—	—	—	—
FANUC	iPendant Touch	—	—	—	—	—
FANUC	Lightweight Teach Pendant	6.4” XGA	1024 x 768	750 g	—	—
FANUC	Tablet Teach Pendant	—	—	—	—	—
KUKA	smartPAD	8.4”	—	1.1 kg	IP54	—
KUKA	smartPAD pro	10.1”	1280 x 800	1.4 kg	IP54	—
KUKA	smartPLUG	your own device	—	0.3 kg	IP54	—
Mitsubishi	R32TB basic / R56TB enhanced	—	—	—	—	7 m or 15 m
Universal Robots	Teach Pendant	12”	—	—	IP54	4.5 m
Yaskawa	Smart Pendant	10.1”	—	—	—	8 m

The most striking column is the one with the most dashes. FANUC is the largest industrial robot manufacturer in the world and publishes no screen size, no resolution and no weight for the iPendant Touch, the pendant that ships with most of its range. It publishes all three for the Lightweight Teach Pendant, because there the numbers are the selling point: FANUC’s own page calls it “the lightest teach pendant in its class at just 750 g” with “40% less weight, 45% less size, and a 6.4” XGA display”. A manufacturer publishes the dimension when the dimension flatters it.

The screen runs backwards to the robot

Sort that table by screen size and the result inverts what you would guess. The 12 inch screen belongs to Universal Robots, whose entire published range is 3 kg to 35 kg. The 6.4 inch screen belongs to FANUC, whose range in our database runs to 1,700 kg. The biggest display in the comparison sits on the smallest robots.

That is not an accident of taste. The pendant screen scales with how much programming happens at the robot rather than with how big the robot is. A cobot is sold on the promise that a production engineer teaches it at the bench without a simulation seat, so the interface has to carry the whole job on the glass. A 1,700 kg palletiser is programmed offline, and the pendant is there to jog, verify and recover. UR’s own UR10e user manual lists the interface in the technical specifications table as “PolyScope graphical user interface on 12” touchscreen”, one line under reach and payload, because for UR the screen is a specification of the product rather than an accessory to it.

The weight column tells the same story from the other end. The heaviest device here, KUKA’s smartPAD pro at 1.4 kg, is heavier than a 13 inch laptop, and an operator holds it one-handed while walking a path point by point. FANUC’s 750 g is nearly half that. Over a shift that is the difference the ergonomics team will raise and the procurement spreadsheet will not.

Two manufacturers contradict themselves on IP

This is the finding worth the price of the exercise, and it took reading the actual documents rather than the product pages.

ABB. The current OmniCore C line product specification, document 3HAC065034-001 revision AE, gives the FlexPendant an IP rating twice. In the technical data on page 24, under Protection classes, the FlexPendant row reads IP65 across all four controller variants. On page 91, in the FlexPendant section itself, the same document states that “The FlexPendant hardware is IP54 rated”, and page 92 lists “IP 54 classification” in its feature table, described as “Protected to dust and splashing of water”. IP54 and IP65 are not adjacent claims. IP65 means dust tight and protected against water jets; IP54 means dust protected and splash resistant only. If you are specifying a pendant for a wash-down line or a cell with spatter, the two answers lead to different decisions, and both are printed in ABB’s own current specification.

Doosan. Appendix A.3.1 of the Doosan Robotics Installation Manual version 1.7 gives the TP-01 a full spec: 0.8 kg, 264 x 218 x 42 mm, 10.1 inch screen, 4.5 m cable, and “Protection Rating IP30”. Section 3.3.4 of the same manual, under connecting the control box and teach pendant, instructs that “The control box and teach pendant must not be exposed to a dusty environment that exceeds IP20 ratings”, and adds a warning about conductive dust.

Flagging the contradiction rather than picking a side is the correct move here, and either Doosan number is the real story anyway. IP30 protects against solid objects above 2.5 mm and offers no water protection whatsoever. Every other pendant in this comparison that publishes a rating is IP54. If you are running a Doosan cell anywhere near coolant, washdown or a wet floor, the pendant is the weakest link in the installation, and it is not the arm’s IP rating you should be checking. Our robot IP ratings and washdown analysis covers the arm side of that question; nothing on the arm’s datasheet tells you about the device in the operator’s hand.

The pendant belongs to the controller, not the robot

Our database stores the pendant as a per-model field, and that framing is convenient rather than correct. Three brands make the point directly.

KUKA sells three devices, and which one you can have is decided by the operating system in the cabinet, not by the arm. KUKA’s own page states that the smartPAD, 8.4 inches and 1.1 kg, is “for the KSS and KUKA Sunrise.OS operating systems”, while the smartPAD pro, 10.1 inches at 1280 x 800 and 1.4 kg, is “for the iiQKA.OS2 operating system”. Choosing a robot generation chooses the pendant. This is the pendant-level version of the split our controller platforms by brand analysis found across whole catalogues.

ABB makes it explicit in the ordering data. The FlexPendant is option 3016, with six variants that differ only in cable: 3 m, 10 m, 30 m, and retractable at 4 m, 10 m and 20 m. The specification also notes that the 30 m version cannot be ordered with the IRB 14050 or CRB 15000, and that the option requires a separate FlexPendant base apps option to do anything. A pendant is three line items, not one.

Mitsubishi publishes two tiers in its own selection guide, the R32TB “Basic Teach Pendant” and the R56TB “Enhanced Function” pendant, each in 7 m and 15 m cable lengths, and every one of the four is listed as Option.

That cable length deserves more attention than it gets. It sets the radius an operator can occupy while jogging, which interacts directly with the guarding layout and with where the controller cabinet sits. A 3 m FlexPendant and a 30 m FlexPendant are the same device with different cell designs attached.

Yaskawa publishes a payload ceiling on its pendant, and we had it wrong

The clearest evidence that the pendant is not a robot property came from checking our own data against Yaskawa’s.

Yaskawa’s Smart Pendant datasheet, dated March 2026, states compatibility precisely. On the YRC1000: AR-series, GP-series up to 80 kg, HC-series, PL-series up to 190 kg. On the YRC1000micro: GP-series up to 12 kg, HC-series, MotoMini and SG-series. The Smart Pendant product page says the same thing in prose, that it is “a touchscreen programming pendant option for select Yaskawa Motoman robot models”.

Our database recorded Smart Pendant on four Yaskawa robots above that line: the GP88 at 88 kg, the GP180 at 180 kg, the GP280 at 280 kg and the PL320 at 320 kg. A second Yaskawa-published source agrees with the datasheet rather than with us. Yaskawa’s own certified pre-owned listing for a GP180-120 with a YRC1000 specifies a “YRC1000 STANDARD programming pendant with 8-meter cable”, not the Smart Pendant.

We cleared the field on those four records for this article rather than substituting a value we had not verified, so they now render as unknown. That drops the field’s coverage from 123 of 369 to 119 of 369, 32.2 percent, and the Smart Pendant count from 21 to 17. Correcting downward is the honest direction when the primary source and the database disagree, and the same discipline produced a similar fix when we found eleven FANUC records carrying a repeatability test standard in the tool flange field.

The general lesson for a buyer is the transferable part. “Brand X uses pendant Y” is a statement about a controller and a payload tier, not about a badge. Ask which pendant is quoted for the specific model, on the specific controller, at the specific software generation.

Eleven of twenty brands publish nothing at all

Coverage	Count
Robots in database	369
Robots with a recorded teach pendant	119 (32.2%)
Distinct recorded values	15
Brands recording at least one	9 of 20
Brands recording none	11 of 20
Records describing a non-pendant device	13

The eleven brands with nothing recorded are AUBO, Epson, Estun, Hans Robot, Inovance, Kawasaki, Omron, Rokae, SIASUN, Stäubli and Techman, covering 196 robots between them. Every one of those brands ships a pendant of some kind; the absence is in what reaches a comparable published specification, not in the hardware. That gap is worse on this field than on almost any other we track, because a pendant sits in the accessories section of a manufacturer’s catalogue even though it is the primary interface in the buyer’s daily life.

Only one brand in the entire catalogue publishes a price for the device. Dobot lists its CRA Series Teach Pendant, a 10.1 inch HD capacitive screen with a three-position enable button and 12 physical jog buttons, at $1,100. Set against the fact that not one of the 369 robots in our database publishes a price at all, a pendant with a public list price is a genuinely unusual data point, and it gives a rough sense of what the line item costs when a quote folds it into a total.

The screen is being unbundled, the safety hardware is not

Thirteen of our 119 records already describe something that is not a conventional pendant, and the direction is consistent across four brands.

KUKA’s smartPLUG is the purest version. It weighs 0.3 kg, measures 180 x 72 x 45 mm, carries IP54, an illuminated emergency stop and a three-position enabling switch, and has no display of its own. KUKA’s page describes it as a “Bring Your Own Device” solution with compatible host systems listed as “Windows, Mac OS, Android, IOS”. You supply the screen; KUKA supplies the two things a tablet legally cannot be.

That is the whole pattern in one product. FANUC’s Tablet Teach Pendant, ABB’s block-based Wizard on three of its models, and JAKA’s records naming a “PC, mobile terminal (PAD/phone)” are all moving the interface onto general-purpose hardware. What none of them move is the emergency stop and the three-position enabling device, because those are safety-rated components in a certified chain and a consumer tablet cannot carry that duty. The published functional-safety architecture behind those components is the subject of our safety rating by brand analysis.

For a buyer this changes the question from “how big is the screen” to “what happens when the tablet fails”. A smartPLUG installation needs a device policy, a spare, an OS-update rule and an answer for what a line operator does when the tablet will not pair. A smartPAD has a part number and a shelf.

What to ask before you sign

The pendant never appears on a robot comparison because it is filed as an accessory. It should appear on yours, and four questions cover it.

Which pendant, on which controller generation? The answer is not implied by the brand. A KUKA quote could mean an 8.4 inch smartPAD or a 10.1 inch smartPAD pro or a screenless smartPLUG, decided by whether the cabinet runs KSS or iiQKA.OS2.

Is it included, and how long is the cable? ABB, Mitsubishi and Yaskawa all list the pendant as an option. Cable length is chosen at order time and is expensive to change later.

What is its ingress protection, from which document? Ask for the installation manual appendix or the product specification, not the product page. Both manufacturers who contradict themselves here do it between a marketing-facing section and an engineering appendix, and only one of the two numbers is the one you can design around.

If it is a bring-your-own-device solution, who owns the device? A 0.3 kg handle is cheaper and lighter than a 1.4 kg pendant right up until an IT policy, a lost tablet or an OS update stops a line.

The pendant is one of the few robot specifications where the operator’s experience and the engineering specification point at the same number, and it is one of the few that is almost never asked for. Our easiest robots to program analysis covers the software half of that experience. This is the hardware half, and you can settle it with two emails before the quote is signed.

Sources

Every figure above was read directly from the document named, by full request rather than a status check, on 5 August 2026.

• ABB, Product specification, OmniCore C line RW 7, document 3HAC065034-001 revision AE, pages 24, 91, 92 and 139. Served from ABB’s own library at search.abb.com/library/Download.aspx?DocumentID=3HAC065034-001.
• KUKA, smartPAD robot teach pendants, technical data for smartPAD, smartPAD pro and smartPLUG.
• FANUC America, Lightweight Teach Pendant and iPendant Touch.
• Yaskawa Motoman, Smart Pendant datasheet, March 2026, compatibility and components sections.
• Universal Robots, UR10e User Manual, PolyScope 5, document 711-039-00, technical specifications on page 16 and mounting section 6.3. Hosted at universal-robots.com/manuals.
• Doosan Robotics, Installation Manual version 1.7 for software 2.6, section 3.3.4 and Appendix A.3.1. Read from a mirrored copy of Doosan’s own manual; the appendix and the body-text warning are both Doosan’s wording.
• Mitsubishi Electric, Robots Selection Guide, teach pendant option listings.
• Dobot, CRA Series Teach Pendant, specification and list price.

Frequently asked questions

What size is a robot teach pendant screen? +

Among the brands that publish a figure, it runs from 6.4 inches to 12 inches. FANUC's Lightweight Teach Pendant is the smallest at 6.4 inches XGA, 1024 by 768. ABB's FlexPendant is 8 inches at the same 1024 by 768. KUKA's smartPAD is 8.4 inches and its smartPAD pro is 10.1 inches at 1280 by 800. Doosan's TP-01, Yaskawa's Smart Pendant and Dobot's CRA pendant are all 10.1 inches. Universal Robots is the largest at 12 inches. That is a 1.9x spread in diagonal and roughly 3.5x in screen area, and it does not track the size of the robot.

Is the teach pendant included with an industrial robot? +

Often not as standard. ABB lists the FlexPendant as orderable option 3016 in its OmniCore product specification, in six cable variants from 3 m to 30 m plus retractable versions. Mitsubishi Electric lists both its R32TB basic pendant and its R56TB enhanced pendant as options with 7 m or 15 m cables. Treat the pendant as a line item on the quote rather than an assumption, and check the cable length, because it decides where an operator can stand.

What IP rating does a teach pendant have? +

IP54 is the common answer, and it is less consistent than it looks. KUKA states IP54 for the smartPAD, smartPAD pro and smartPLUG. Universal Robots states IP54 for the Teach Pendant in the UR10e user manual, alongside IP54 for the arm and IP44 for the control box. Doosan's installation manual appendix gives the TP-01 as IP30, which offers no water protection at all. Two manufacturers contradict themselves inside their own current documents, so read the functional-safety or installation appendix rather than the marketing page.

Do all robot brands publish what teach pendant they ship? +

No. Only 9 of the 20 brands in our database record a teach pendant on any model, covering 119 of 369 robots, or 32.2 percent. Eleven brands record none at all: AUBO, Epson, Estun, Hans Robot, Inovance, Kawasaki, Omron, Rokae, SIASUN, Stäubli and Techman. Those brands all ship pendants. The gap is in what reaches a published spec sheet, not in the hardware.

Can I program an industrial robot without a teach pendant? +

Increasingly yes, and 13 of our 119 records already describe something that is not a conventional pendant. KUKA's smartPLUG is a 0.3 kg handle with an emergency stop and a three-position enabling switch and no screen of its own, running the interface on your own Windows, macOS, Android or iOS device. FANUC sells a Tablet Teach Pendant. ABB records three models against the block-based Wizard interface. JAKA's records name a PC, tablet or phone. The safety hardware stays physical; the screen is what is being unbundled.

Does the Yaskawa Smart Pendant work with every Yaskawa robot? +

No, and Yaskawa publishes the limit. The Smart Pendant datasheet dated March 2026 lists compatibility on the YRC1000 as AR-series, GP-series up to 80 kg, HC-series and PL-series up to 190 kg, and on the YRC1000micro as GP-series up to 12 kg, HC-series, MotoMini and SG-series. Heavier arms take the standard programming pendant instead. We had four robots above that ceiling recorded as Smart Pendant and cleared them for this article.

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