Cobot Hand-Guiding / Teaching Patent Snapshot 2026
The cobot hand-guiding and teaching space is in a growth phase, with Lincoln Global commanding the lead position and welding-automation applicants dominating the upper tier. Activity is concentrated among a small set of industrial filers, yet AI-model and vision-based branches remain sparsely covered, signaling room for differentiated entry.
Lincoln Global leads a tightly held field with clear welding-sector bias
Lincoln Global Inc sits firmly at the top of the ranking, holding the largest share of patent records among all tracked applicants. Siemens Industry Software and Vectis Automation follow as the second and third-ranked filers, establishing a clear three-player front tier.
The top five filers together account for 54% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query, indicating high concentration at the apex. A pronounced gap separates the top three from the remainder, most of whom hold only one or two patent records each.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lincoln Global Inc | 10 | |
| 2 | Siemens Industry Software Ltd | 6 | |
| 3 | Vectis Automation LLC | 5 | |
| 4 | Thomson Industries Inc | 3 | |
| 5 | Rethink Robotics Inc | 2 | |
| 6 | Caterpillar Inc | 2 | |
| 7 | LAIR LIQUIDE SA POUR LETUDE & LEXPLOITATION DES PR… | 2 | |
| 8 | Air Liquide America Inc | 2 | |
| 9 | Fanuc Ltd | 2 | |
| 10 | Illinois Tool Works Inc | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Dr. K. M. Vanitha | 1 | |
| 12 | Dr. Govind Prasad Pandiya | 1 | |
| 13 | Fanuc Robotics North America Inc | 1 | |
| 14 | Dr. Rakesh K. Kadu | 1 | |
| 15 | Arya College of Engineering | 1 | |
| 16 | Dr. M. D. Nandeesh | 1 | |
| 17 | Maihe Robotics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd | 1 | |
| 18 | Dr. R. Beaulah Jeyavathana | 1 | |
| 19 | Tianjin University | 1 | |
| 20 | Rajalakshmi Engineering College | 1 |
Lincoln Global’s position, reinforced by a welding-centric technology focus spanning B25J manipulators, G05B control systems, and B23K welding classes, suggests that cobot hand-guiding IP in this corpus is being driven primarily by arc-welding automation use cases rather than general-purpose robotics.
The most recent 18–24 months of filing data are subject to publication lag and likely understate current activity; the scope covers global filings indexed through mid-2026. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filings are rising sharply and the technology mix is manipulator-dominated
Two charts together reveal both the pace of activity and its structural composition: the annual filing curve shows a field that was quiet through 2020–2022 and then accelerated, while the IPC breakdown shows that B25J manipulator claims dwarf every other class.
Annual filing trend
Filings were negligible from 2017 through 2022, then surged in 2023 and again in 2024, which recorded the highest single-year count. The 2025 and 2026 figures are almost certainly understated due to publication lag and should not be read as a plateau.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B25J (Manipulators & robots) is the visible IPC branch by a wide margin, followed by G05B (Control & regulating systems) and B23K (Welding, soldering & brazing). Computing and AI-related branches — G06N, G06F, G06T, G06V — each account for only one to three patent records, confirming that software-intensive approaches remain under-represented.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
KOLLABORATIVES ROBOTERSCHWEISSSYSTEM
A welding system includes a collaborative robot, a robot controller, a welding torch having an end located at a tool center point (TCP), a welding power supply, and a teach pendant. The teach pendant includes a UI application configured for programming welding points and parameters. In a first operation mode, the UI application displays the plurality of… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robot system for human-robot collaboration | 26 |
| 2 | 通用协作机器人、机器人系统及通用协作机器人执行操作任务的控制方法 | 14 |
| 3 | Hybrid training with collaborative and conventiona… | 14 |
| 4 | Method and system for programming a cobot for a pl… | 13 |
| 5 | Collaborative robot welding system and method | 12 |
| 6 | Method and system for programming a cobot for a pl… | 6 |
| 7 | Tip attachment to aid in programming a collaborati… | 6 |
| 8 | Remotely deployable collaborative robot fabricatio… | 4 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
Lincoln Global Inc
Lincoln Global holds 10 patent records, the highest count in the corpus, with a technology focus spanning B25J 9 manipulators, G05B 19 control systems, and B23K 26 laser welding. Its momentum is classified as a new entrant, indicating its entire recorded portfolio arrived in the recent tracking window — a concentrated, fast-built position rather than a legacy accumulation.
patent records: 10Siemens Industry Software Ltd
Siemens Industry Software holds 6 patent records, focusing on B25J 9 and B25J 13 manipulator sub-classes and G05B 19 control systems — a profile more aligned with general-purpose cobot programming and simulation than welding-specific deployment. Its position as second-ranked challenger gives it the broadest non-welding footprint among the top filers.
patent records: 6Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 38 patent families in scope. This is a relatively small corpus compared with broader collaborative-robotics domains, reflecting that hand-guiding and kinesthetic teaching as a specific sub-field is still in an early growth phase.
Lincoln Global Inc holds the most patent records among all tracked applicants and leads the ranking by a clear margin. Siemens Industry Software Ltd and Vectis Automation LLC rank second and third respectively.
Annual filings were near zero from 2017 through 2022, then climbed sharply in 2023 and reached their highest recorded level in 2024. The evidence classifies the field as Growth with annual filings still rising; publication lag means 2025 and 2026 figures are understated. The applicant momentum data shows that all of the most active recent filers are classified as new entrants, suggesting the surge reflects fresh commercial interest rather than incremental portfolio expansion by legacy holders.
B25J (Manipulators & robots) is the visible class, followed by G05B (Control & regulating systems) and B23K (Welding, soldering & brazing). AI-model (G06N), image-processing (G06T), and vision-recognition (G06V) branches each account for only one to three patent records, making them the sparsest represented areas.
The United States is the leading jurisdiction, followed by Europe via the EPO and WIPO PCT filings. India holds a small cluster tied largely to academic filers. China and Taiwan each have two patent records, representing a notably thin presence relative to the scale of cobot manufacturing activity in those markets.
Only one co-filing relationship is documented in the corpus: Air Liquide America Inc and L’Air Liquide SA pour l’Etude et l’Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude filed jointly, consistent with their shared corporate group and focus on welding-process applications. No cross-industry or academia-industry co-filing clusters are evident, indicating the ecosystem remains largely siloed.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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