Patent ID: 7891935

Claim:
A robot assembly for manipulating one or more substrates, comprising: a first arm and a second arm supported by a column; the first arm comprising a first limb, the first limb comprising a first set of three revolute joint/link pairs serially connected in an open kinematic chain to provide translation and rotation of a distalmost link of the first limb in a horizontal plane; the second arm comprising a second limb, the second limb comprising a second set of three revolute joint/link pairs serially connected in an open kinematic chain to provide translation and rotation of a distalmost link of the second limb in a horizontal plane; the first limb and the second limb having proximal revolute joints having a common vertical axis of rotation; an actuator assembly coupled to the first set of revolute joint/link pairs and to the second set of revolute joint/link pairs to effect rotation and translation of the distalmost links of the first limb and the second limb, the actuator assembly comprising: four hollow shafts concentrically disposed about the common vertical axis of rotation, first and second motors operatively coupled to a most proximal joint/link pair of the first set of revolute joint/link pairs of the first arm and to an outermost two of the hollow shafts, the first and second motors being arranged so that an outer perimeter of a stator of the first motor is concentric with an outer perimeter of a stator of the second motor to form a first motor module where the first and second motors are arranged concentrically to the outermost two of the hollow shafts, third and forth motors operatively coupled to a most proximal joint/link pair of the second set of revolute joint/link pairs of the second arm and to an innermost two of the hollow shafts, the third and fourth motors being arranged so that an outer perimeter of a stator of the third motor is concentric with an outer perimeter of a stator of the fourth motor to form a second motor module where the third and fourth motors are arranged concentrically to the innermost two of the hollow shafts where the first motor is radially nested with the second motor and the third motor is radially nested with the fourth motor, and the second motor module being disposed below the first motor module in a motor package enclosure; and the first limb and the second limb defining, in conjunction with the actuator assembly, four degrees of freedom, whereby the distalmost links of the first limb and the second limb are independently horizontally translatable for extension and retraction, the first limb and the second limb are independently rotatable over the common vertical axis of rotation, and the distalmost joints of the first and second limbs are radially translatable along a radial horizontal line extending over the common vertical axis of rotation.