whirrwork
🌐 Automatisch übersetzt. Das englische Original ist die Quelle und kann genauer sein. Auf Englisch lesen →

Roboter oder Mensch?

Welding

Manual MIG welder vs Cobot welding system (welder still loads and supervises)

Modellschätzungen von Whirrwork, keine Fakten. Methodik · Trefferbilanz

Mensch · Pro Jahr77.986 $Manual welder
Roboter · Pro Jahr64.428 $Buy a cobot welder
Amortisation42 Monate
Jahr der KostenwendebereitsBase-case year (earliest to latest across scenarios)

On these numbers the robot option is clearly cheaper. Payback is longer than three years, which is longer than many robot contracts and some robot companies.

Vereinigte Staaten · USD · BLS OEWS May 2025 national medians by SOC occupation

Mit eigenen Zahlen rechnen

Change anything. Results update as you type and stay in your browser; nothing is stored or sent. Works offline after your first visit.

Arbeitsmenge
Annahme

Manual welding hours of work per day.

Annahme

Shift hours per day.

Annahme

Working days per month.

Annahme

Months per year.

Personal
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

BLS OEWS May 2025 national median hourly wage, SOC 51-4121.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Wages and salaries were 70.0% of total employer compensation cost for private industry workers in June 2026 (ECEC), so total cost = wage / 0.70.

ilostat.ilo.org

Nominal 4.4% a year, 2015-2025 (ILOSTAT hourly earnings).

Annahme

One manual welding hour.

Roboter
Annahme Hirebotics

Output of one cobot-hour relative to a manual welder-hour. The vendor says most shops see 2-4x; we take the low end.

Hirebotics

Hirebotics Cobot Welder complete system, starting price.

Annahme THG Automation (integrator)

Fixtures, guarding, training beyond the package. Integrators quote $15,000-$40,000 for un-packaged systems.

THG Automation (integrator)

3-5% of system price per year.

Annahme

Useful life in years.

Annahme

Arc-ready share of the shift (loading, tip changes).

Annahme

Hours lost to faults.

Annahme

Welds that stay manual: one-offs, awkward joints, repairs.

Annahme

Welder minutes per robot-hour (fixturing, loading, inspecting). Cobot welding is a person plus a robot.

Annahme

kWh per hour of welding.

Annahme

Electricity price per kWh (USD). Check your bill; energy is rarely a big line.

Finanzen
Annahme

Annual financing / discount rate. Nobody publishes yours; 8% is a round mid-2026 commercial borrowing guess.

Annahme

Years in the NPV comparison.

Annahme

Share of a human service price that is labour (rises with wages). Used to escalate and to adjust US service prices to other countries.

Annahme

Share of a robot service price that is labour (pilot, technician). The rest is equipment, which learning curves make cheaper.

Annahme

Share of a lease or RaaS fee that pays for hardware (learns down). The rest is service and support (moves with wages).

Download these results (CSV)

Ergebnisse

OptionPro MonatPro JahrPer unit (welding hour)EinmalkostenAmortisationBreak-even utilisation5-year NPV vs baseline
Mensch Manual welder Vergleichsbasis 6.499 $77.986 $36,93 $— — — —
Roboter Buy a cobot welder 5.369 $64.428 $30,51 $120.000 $ 42 Monate 27 %
Utilisation 41 %
 61.492 $

What moves the answer most

Each bar shows the 5-year NPV of the best robot option when one input moves to the low or high end of its range, with the rest held at your values.

5-year NPV vs baseline: Buy a cobot welder5-year NPV vs baseline: Buy a cobot welderWorkloadlow value: 4 → -24.670 $high value: 16 → 233.817 $Work that stays humanlow value: 0.1 → 110.728 $high value: 0.6 → -12.361 $Robot output vs a personlow value: 1.2 → 19.146 $high value: 4 → 93.251 $Robot purchase pricelow value: 80000 → 84.309 $high value: 160000 → 11.294 $Supervisionlow value: 15 → 91.884 $high value: 50 → 20.969 $Hourly wagelow value: 20.672 → 26.480 $high value: 31.008 → 96.504 $Employer on-cost multiplierlow value: 1.2790000000000001 → 43.117 $high value: 1.579 → 79.868 $Financing and discount ratelow value: 0.05 → 77.769 $high value: 0.12 → 42.483 $Integration and setuplow value: 5000 → 71.492 $high value: 40000 → 36.492 $61.492 $0low valuehigh valueSource: Whirrwork Robot-or-Human model v1.0.0 (whirrwork.com/tools/robot-vs-human/welding/). Modelled estimate, not a fact.

Cost per unit to 2035

Real terms (today's money). Robot hardware follows Wright's law; wages follow each country's history. Shaded band: robots-slow to robots-fast scenarios. Modellschätzungen von Whirrwork, keine Fakten.

ChartPersonalkosten pro Einheit (Basis), Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Basis), Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Roboter: schneller Fortschritt), Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Roboter: langsamer Fortschritt). Source: Whirrwork Robot-or-Human model v1.0.0 (whirrwork.com/tools/robot-vs-human/welding/). Modelled estimate, not a fact.0,00 $10,00 $20,00 $30,00 $40,00 $2026202720282029203020312032203320342035USD / welding hourscenario rangePersonalkosten pro Einheit (Basis)Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Basis)Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Robote…Roboterkosten pro Einheit (Robote…Source: Whirrwork Robot-or-Human model v1.0.0 (whirrwork.com/tools/robot-vs-human/welding/). Modelled estimate, not a f…

Jahr der Kostenwende: bereits

What the spreadsheet misses

Sicherheit
Less fume and arc exposure for the welder; fume extraction is still needed.
Qualität
Repeatable beads on repeat parts; fixturing tolerance decides quality.
Flexibilität
Skilled welders handle the one-offs robots never will.
Edge cases
Poor part fit-up and short runs.
Customer experience
Shorter lead times on repeat orders.
Jobs and redeployment
Welder shortages are the usual reason; welders become programmers and inspectors.
Regulierung
Machinery safety rules; welding codes still require qualified procedures.

Siehe auch

Quellen auf dieser Seite

Hinweise und Quellen sind auf Englisch; maßgeblich ist die englische Fassung.

  1. Cobot Welder starting price $105,000 (complete system incl. UR8 Long, power source, torch, cart, software); "most shops see 2-4x the output" Hirebotics, 2026-10 · vendor
  2. Cobot welding price breakdown: integration/commissioning $15,000-$40,000; base system 50-60% of total investment; maintenance 3-5% per year THG Automation (integrator), 2026 · vendor
  3. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (median hourly wage by occupation) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025-05
  4. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026: wages and salaries 70.0% of private-industry compensation (series CMU2020000000000P) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-06
  5. Mean nominal hourly earnings of employees by sex and occupation (ISCO-08), DF_EAR_EHRA_SEX_OCU_CUR_NB ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization), from national labour force and earnings surveys, 2025
  6. Labour cost levels by NACE Rev. 2 activity (lc_lci_lev): Germany 2022-2025, total labour cost vs wages and salaries per hour Eurostat, 2025
  7. Rates and thresholds for employers 2025 to 2026 (employer Class 1 NIC 15% above £5,000) HM Revenue & Customs, 2025-04-06
  8. 令和6年賃金構造基本統計調査 (Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2024), table 1 by occupation Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (via e-Stat), 2024-06
  9. Average monthly earnings of employees by sex and economic activity, DF_EAR_EMTA_SEX_ECO_CUR_NB ILOSTAT (International Labour Organization), 2022
  10. Average annual wage of employed persons in urban units in 2024 (by position and by region) National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2025-05-20
  11. Euro foreign exchange reference rates (cross rates to USD), via Frankfurter European Central Bank, 2026-10-23
  12. Wright, T. P. (1936). Factors affecting the cost of airplanes. Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, 3(4), 122-128 Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences, 1936
  13. Nagy, B., Farmer, J. D., Bui, Q. M., & Trancik, J. E. (2013). Statistical basis for predicting technological progress. PLoS ONE, 8(2), e52669 (62 technologies; Wright's law among the best hindcasters; errors grow with horizon) PLoS ONE, 2013