robotindex Elephant Robotics myCobot 280
A small, assembled 6-axis desktop cobot from Shenzhen-based Elephant Robotics, sold across several interchangeable compute modules. The pictured unit is the M5Stack variant, identifiable by the built-in color screen in its base. "280" refers to its 280mm working radius, not a base diameter or payload figure — this is an education/research desktop arm, not an industrial-duty machine.
shop.elephantrobotics.com/mycobot-280 →
Image: user-submitted
Specs
Weight
~800–850 gvaries slightly by compute variant
Degrees of Freedom
6-axis
Payload
250 geducation/desktop class, not industrial-duty
Actuators
Steel-geared servos12-bit magnetic encoders — smart bus servos, not harmonic-drive joints
Reach
280 mmthe source of the "280" name, not a base diameter
Repeatability
±0.5 mmmanufacturer-stated; an order of magnitude looser than industrial cobots
Compute (pictured)
M5Stack ESP32built-in 2" color screen; Pi, Jetson Nano, RDK X5, and Arduino variants also sold
Stated Duty Cycle
500 hoursmanufacturer's own working-lifespan spec
Reference Price
Elephant Robotics' own shop prices myCobot 280 from $599 (Arduino) to $849 (Jetson Nano) depending on the onboard compute module, with the pictured M5Stack variant at $649 and a bundled accessory kit at $1,417.97. The arm and servo hardware are identical across all five variants — only the compute module changes, so that choice is what actually drives the price difference.
Insights
This catalog's Open Source badge covers only the software layer here: Elephant Robotics' Python SDK and ROS/ROS2 packages are genuinely MIT- and BSD-3-Clause-licensed, but the arm's own controller firmware ships as closed binaries and no hardware CAD or schematics are published. That makes myCobot 280 a closed, assembled hardware product with an open software stack layered on top.
Firmware & Community
docs.elephantrobotics.com
Official Python/ROS SDK and developer documentation for the myCobot line (not a GitHub repo).
Specs compiled from Elephant Robotics' official shop listings, spec sheets, and GitBook documentation, its GitHub organization (pymycobot, mycobot_ros, mycobot_ros2), and independent reviews (The Gadgeteer, Raspberry Pi's official magazine, CNX Software) as of this build. The on-screen graphics visible in the submitted photo are inferred to be a stock M5Stack demo display rather than a confirmed myCobot-specific programming interface — no official source verifies otherwise. Confirm current pricing and variant availability before purchase, and note that the Jetson Nano compute variant depends on an NVIDIA module now declared end-of-life.