Reach

Reach is the maximum distance from a robot arm's base to any point its end-effector can access within its workspace. For a serial arm, maximum reach equals the sum of all link lengths. Effective reach in a deployment is smaller — accounting for joint limits, self-collision avoidance, and the need to approach objects from multiple orientations. Reach determines which workstation layouts and object placements are feasible. When selecting robots for a task, engineers must confirm that the required workspace (including all approach directions for grasping) falls within the robot's reachable envelope at acceptable accuracy.