Patent ID: 8573919

Claim:
A substrate transport apparatus comprising: a frame; a drive section connected to the frame, the drive section including a shoulder drive section disposed in the frame and an articulated joint drive section; more than one different interchangeable motor module, each of which is capable of mounting in the articulated joint drive section and being configured so that it includes at least one motor, a selected motor module being selected for placement in the articulated joint drive section from the more than one different interchangeable motor module where each of the motor modules is selectable for placement in the articulated joint drive section and each motor module having a different number of motors each defining a respective independent drive axis independent of placement in the articulated joint drive section, wherein each of the motor modules is a unitary module that is installed and removed from the articulated joint drive section as a unit where the articulated joint drive section is configured to accept placement of only one unitary module at a time; and an articulated arm having a first arm configuration with a predetermined number of articulating joints capable of independent movement, and a second arm configuration with a different predetermined number of articulating joints capable of independent movement, the arm being connected to the drive section for articulation of at least one of the articulating joints, wherein the arm has a common shoulder joint and the configuration is selectable between the first and second arm configurations each having a different predetermined configuration of the number of articulating joints of the arm capable of being independently moved, the selection of the arm configuration being effected by selection of the at least one selected motor module for placement in the articulated joint drive section, the selected motor module determining each articulating joint capable of being independently moved dependent on the number of motors of the selected motor module upon installation of the selected motor module in the articulated joint drive section, wherein the articulated joint drive section is disposed in the articulated arm.