Your First Cobot: the Site-Readiness Checklist Before It Lands
Your First Cobot: the Site-Readiness Checklist Before It Lands
Quick verdict: a cobot installation succeeds or struggles on the week before the crate arrives. The arm needs little — a firm floor, a standard power supply and space for its cell — but the cell needs trays, tooling, signals, people and a plan for the first part. This checklist is the one we walk with customers so the go-live week is boring in the best way.
By the time you have chosen the arm, sized the gripper and agreed the scope, the remaining risk is not the robot. It is everything under and around it: where it bolts down, what feeds it power, who owns it, what the operators were told, and whether the machine it serves is ready to hold a conversation. None of that is difficult. All of it is easy to leave late — and late is what turns a two-day install into a two-week negotiation with your own factory.
Here is the checklist we actually use, split into the four readiness blocks: floor, services, cell, people. For the safety assessment that runs alongside it, see cobot safety in Malaysia.
1. Floor — where it bolts down
The mounting point, decided on paper first. The arm sits at the centre of its own reachable circle; the interesting question is what must live inside that circle: trays, fixtures, the machine door, the operator’s approach. Mark it on the floor plan — and then on the floor itself — before anything is ordered.
Floor condition. A collaborative arm is light, but it still needs a firm, level, stable base — especially on mezzanines and in older buildings. If the slab is in question, that is a civil question, not a robot question, and it is better answered early.
The surroundings. What is above (cable trays, sprinklers), what is behind (walkways, forklift lanes), what moves nearby (other machines, doors, people). The cell’s layout — and its safety assessment — start here.
2. Services — power, air, network
Power at the point of use. Collaborative arms run from standard industrial supplies, but the point is: confirm what is actually at the wall, not what the building was supposed to have. Extension leads across a walkway are how cells begin badly.
Compressed air — if the tool needs it. Vacuum grippers and some clamps want air; know the pressure and quality the tooling expects before the installer does.
Network and signals. If the cell talks to a machine or a system, the cable routes and the handshake interface belong on this list — not discovered on install day. The arm itself needs little; the conversation around it needs planning.
Environment. Dust, coolant mist and washdown decide whether the cell needs an IP-rated arm variant — worth one sentence now, one crisis later.
3. Cell — the unglamorous list that makes the first part run
The first part, chosen deliberately. The simplest, most repeatable part you make — and its drawings or samples, its weight, and where it is today. The first program should succeed loudly; the hard parts come after the cell is trusted.
Part presentation. How parts arrive at the cell: tray, conveyor, staging table. If the answer is “however the operator drops them”, the cell is not ready — presentation is the deliverable, not an assumption.
The machine interface, if any. What the served machine (CNC, press, welder) exposes: door open/closed, cycle start, part complete. A machine that cannot say hello needs an interface plan — and that is entirely normal; it just needs to be planned.
Tooling arrival. Gripper, jaws, fingers, vacuum plate — confirmed against the first part, and test-fitted on the bench if possible. The gripper touching the part before the robot does removes most first-day surprises.
Sample parts staged. Half a dozen, ideally with the natural variation of production. Programming against perfect samples and running against real ones is where complaints are born.
4. People — who owns it when we leave
The cell owner, named. One person accountable for the cell’s output who was involved in choosing it. Cells with no owner get abandoned the first time a part changes.
The training list, written before install. Operators who work with the cell daily, the technician who will re-teach programs, the supervisor who signs off the safety file. Training happens at handover — bring the list, not an audience.
The neighbours. Everyone around the cell should understand what it does; a fenceless cell with a nervous neighbour attracts unnecessary fences. Short briefings before go-live beat signage afterwards.
The plan for production. Which shifts the cell runs in its first week, what happens when it stops, and who the operator calls. A cell that must prove itself in peak production before it has run a quiet week is being set up to fail.
The arm needs little — everything around it needs planning.
Readiness at a glance
Item
Ready when…
Why it matters
Floor position
Marked on the floor plan and the slab
The arm’s circle decides where everything else lives
Power
A supply is confirmed at the point of use
No extension leads across walkways, no first-day electrical work
Air & environment
Tooling air requirement known; IP variant decided
Wet or dusty cells that need protection get it from the start
Signals
Machine handshake interface agreed
The robot can only serve a machine that can talk to it
First part
Chosen, with samples and drawings
An easy, loud first success builds the trust the cell will need
Presentation
Trays or infeed staged and delivered
How parts arrive is the cell’s reliability
Tooling
Gripper test-fitted to the part
Gripper problems are solved cheapest away from the robot
People
Owner named; training list written
Cells inherit their success from their owner
Production plan
First-week shifts and escalation agreed
Go-live earns its confidence in a planned week, not peak season
Readiness starts with the building: floor, power, access.
The first week, realistically
With the checklist done, the install follows a familiar shape: mounting and services on day one, cell wiring and first programs on day two, running your first part against the delivered presentation on days three to four, then the safety verification and handover training before the cell earns its shifts. The variable is never the arm — it is how much of this list was waiting for the crate to arrive. Every item on it costs minutes before the install and days after it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a cobot installation actually take? Physical install is days; readiness is the variable. A single-benchtop cell with staging and samples ready can be producing its first part inside a week. The weeks appear when the machine interface is undiscovered, the presentation does not exist or training was never scheduled — all of which this checklist exists to prevent.
Can we install it ourselves? You can prepare everything on this page, and many customers do. Mounting and commissioning with programming, safety configuration and verification is work we would keep in the scope — not from bureaucracy, but because those are the parts that determine whether the cell is safe, documented and maintainable in year three.
What power does a collaborative robot need? Arms in the Elfin class run from ordinary industrial single-phase supplies; the exact figure is in the model’s specification sheet and belongs in your electrical plan. The real-world answer: confirm the supply at the point of use rather than assuming it — it is one line on this list and a walked-offsite installer without it.
Will it interrupt production? Not if the install is planned into a quiet window and pre-work happened before it. The cell is small, the wiring is light, and with the checklist done the disruptive part — trial and adjustment — happens on staged samples, not on your live schedule.
