Robotics: Making intelligence real through materials

Our high-performance polycarbonates and polycarbonate blends including Makrolon®, APEC® XT, Bayblend® FR, and Bayflex® are engineered to be lightweight yet exceptionally impact-resistant, directly reducing the overall weight of robotic platforms. This weight reduction translates into greater agility and extended battery life, since less energy is consumed moving the robot's own mass. These materials deliver functional performance and distinctive aesthetics in a single solution, making them ideal for structural housings, frames, and load-bearing components across humanoid and industrial robots alike.

Bayblend® FR, our flame-retardant polycarbonate blend, delivers V-0 level flame retardancy even in ultra-thin wall designs without compromising impact resistance, flowability, or colorability. Its high flowability enables the thin-wall, space-efficient geometries demanded by modern battery pack enclosures and cell holders. Complementing this, our Thermal Management polycarbonates with high RTI (Relative Thermal Index) support uniform temperature distribution and long-term dimensional stability, ensuring safe and reliable battery operation throughout the robot's service life.

Platilon® TPU films are specifically engineered for this application. They combine exceptional stretchability with full compatibility with conductive inks, making them the ideal substrate platform for flexible printed electronics in robotic e-skin and dexterous hand applications. Their stable dielectric properties, inherent electrical insulation, and resistance to mechanical stress, chemicals, and temperature extremes ensure consistent signal performance under demanding operating conditions. For added durability, our waterborne PU textile coatings can be applied on top to enhance abrasion and chemical resistance.

Makrolon® TC replaces traditional metal cooling components with a lightweight polymer alternative, enabling efficient heat dissipation in robot electronic housings, motor controllers, and actuator assemblies. By integrating thermal management directly into the structural part, robot designers can reduce component count, lower overall weight, and simplify assembly while maintaining the impact resistance and design freedom that polycarbonate is known for. This is particularly valuable in compact humanoid robot architectures where space and weight budgets are tightly constrained.

Baysafe® polyurethane potting foam is purpose-built for battery module protection. Despite its low density and lightweight nature, it significantly enhances the battery pack's overall structural strength and impact resistance. Critically, it effectively insulates heat transfer between cells and, in extreme thermal runaway scenarios, slows the propagation of heat. This is a key safety requirement increasingly mandated by global battery safety standards. The foam seals cells against moisture and vibration, providing comprehensive mechanical, electrical, and thermal protection for the robot's energy core.

Desmopan® UP TPU resin enables self-healing, highly durable surface protection films that act as a protective paint sealant. Minor scratches and chips on robot outer body panels are autonomously filled in over time, restoring the surface to its original appearance without any manual intervention. This is especially valuable for service robots and humanoids operating in public or consumer-facing environments, where maintaining a premium, unblemished appearance is as important as functional performance.

Vulkollan® cast polyurethane elastomers are the proven industry benchmark for heavy-duty AGV wheels and rollers. They deliver exceptional dynamic load-bearing capacity, fatigue resistance, and wear performance enabling reliable, around-the-clock operation in demanding logistics and warehouse environments. As a single-source provider, our Elastomers also supplies Baulé® processing equipment, globally recognized for accuracy and reliability in cast PU elastomer processing. For lighter-duty or design-flexible applications, Desmopan® FLY TPU resins offer an excellent alternative, combining flexibility, abrasion resistance, and thermal wear resistance in a processable, lightweight material.

Yes. Covestro's CQ (Circular Intelligence) portfolio, including Makrolon® RE bio-circular attributed polycarbonates and Bayblend® RE, delivers the same high performance as conventional fossil-based grades, as a true drop-in solution with lot-to-lot consistency. Makrolon® RE grades can contain up to 89% attributed bio-circular raw materials (ISCC PLUS certified via mass balance), significantly reducing product carbon footprints. Covestro has already demonstrated this in real-world robotics applications: together with Alibaba DAMO Academy, Makrolon® RE bio-circular attributed PC was used in an inspection robot, and sustainable TPU solutions have been deployed with Roborock for robot vacuum components proving that lower-carbon materials and rigorous robotic performance are fully compatible.

Covestro's IMSE® technology integrates illumination, touch controls, display functions, and electronic circuits into a seamlessly formed surface in a single injection-molding manufacturing step. By replacing multi-part conventional electronics assemblies with a single molded part, IMSE® reduces device weight by 50–70% and part thickness by up to 90%. For robotics, this enables sleek, lightweight human-machine interaction surfaces combining ambient lighting, touch functionality, and embedded circuitry directly into robot body panels or control interfaces without the bulk, assembly complexity, or reliability risks of traditional electronics. The technology is already proven in automotive applications and is rapidly expanding into robotics and smart devices.

Covestro's Desmodur® E and Dispercoll® polyurethane-based adhesive systems are engineered for exactly this challenge. They bond composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP), metals, and engineering plastics with high strength, chemical resistance, and long-term durability enabling thinner, lighter robot designs without compromising structural integrity. For actuator assemblies requiring precise component bonding alongside resistance to dynamic stress, vibration, and thermal cycling, Covestro's thermally conductive adhesive solutions provide the additional performance needed to maintain accuracy and longevity over the robot's full operational lifetime.