Industrial Robot ROI & TCO Calculator
Plug in your project numbers to estimate payback period and 5-year total cost of ownership. The integration multiplier is the figure most buyers forget to include.
Your Project Inputs
Hardware only -- not including integration. Cobots typically $30k-$80k; heavy articulated arms $80k-$200k+.
Integration, safety fencing, end-of-arm tooling, commissioning and training. Hardware is typically 25-50% of the final project cost.
Include wages, benefits, overtime, and indirect costs. US manufacturing average is ~$45k-$55k per operator/year fully loaded.
A robot that runs 2 shifts replaces 2x the labor of a single-shift calculation. Set to 1 if you're only displacing one shift.
Includes service contracts, spare parts, consumable tooling, and downtime costs. Industry average is roughly 8-12% of total system cost per year.
Estimated Results
Updates instantly as you change inputs above.
Total project cost
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Simple payback period
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months to break even
5-year TCO
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project cost + 5 years of maintenance
5-year labor cost avoided
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at your labor + coverage inputs
5-Year TCO vs. Labor avoided
Estimates only. Get a quote from your integrator. Browse robots or compare models to narrow your shortlist before requesting proposals.
How we derived these defaults
Integration multiplier (default 2.5x)
Hardware is typically 25-50% of final project cost, with integration, safety fencing, end-of-arm tooling, programming, and commissioning making up the remainder. Safety fencing alone runs $15,000-$40,000 per cell. Simple pick-and-place installations can land around 1.5-2x hardware; complex turnkey welding or vision-guided cells routinely hit 3-4x.
Sources: AMD Machines TCO guide, Inbolt integration cost breakdown.
Annual maintenance (default 8%)
Industry sources consistently cite annual maintenance at 8-12% of total system cost, covering service contracts, spare parts (bearings, reducers, tooling), and unplanned downtime. Simpler cobots with fewer moving parts tend toward the lower end; heavy articulated arms with hydraulic or pneumatic EOAT tend higher.
Sources: AMD Machines TCO guide, Standard Bots robot cost overview.
Payback benchmarks
Published ROI studies for light-to-medium automation typically show payback in 12-24 months for well-scoped projects, and up to 36-48 months for complex custom cells or applications where integration costs dominate. Labor savings, OEE improvement, and scrap reduction often accelerate payback beyond the simple labor-substitution model used here.
Source: GrabaRobot ROI and payback guide.