ABB Robots and Massage: Hands to Force-Sensing Arms

From Tour de France rubdowns to a massage robot at CIFTIS 2026 in Beijing, how robot massage works and why ABB GoFa force sensing and hand teaching fit it.

INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

Chat With Robot

9/25/20261 min read

In July 1960, a Dutch press photographer caught the rider G. Kersten on the massage table during the Tour de France, getting a rubdown by hand. Massage was always hand work like that, learned from other masseurs over years, and a good one could feel exactly where a muscle was tight.

Black and white photo of a masseur in a vest massaging a cyclist lying on a table
Black and white photo of a masseur in a vest massaging a cyclist lying on a table

Rider G. Kersten gets a massage during the Tour de France, July 1960. Photo: Harry Pot / Anefo via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Machines tried early. At the opening of the 1960 household fair in Amsterdam's RAI hall, visitors tested a standing massage machine, and massage chairs later became fixtures in malls and airports. They vibrate and knead on a fixed program, but they can't tell where the knot is.

Black and white photo of a woman standing on a massage machine at a trade fair stand
Black and white photo of a woman standing on a massage machine at a trade fair stand

A mechanical massage machine demonstrated at the opening of the household fair in Amsterdam's RAI, March 1960. Photo: Wim van Rossem / Anefo via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

This month, at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, a massage robot gave demonstrations on a dummy. Its makers said it can reproduce a specialist's movements almost exactly and could learn the techniques of well-known practitioners. In the US, Aescape's two-armed massage robot already works in gyms.

Two white robot arms mounted on either side of a blue padded massage table
Two white robot arms mounted on either side of a blue padded massage table

An Aescape two-armed massage robot beside its table. Photo: BrokenSegue / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Massage depends on force. The arm has to press, feel the body push back and adjust. ABB's GoFa cobot has sensors in all six joints and limits its power and force so it can work next to people, and ABB's Integrated Force Control lets its industrial arms keep a set pressure along a surface.

White ABB GoFa cobot arm with a gripper next to metal parts in a machine cell
White ABB GoFa cobot arm with a gripper next to metal parts in a machine cell

An ABB GoFa cobot, which has sensors in all six joints, at work in a small factory. Photo: ABB

GoFa can also be taught by hand. With lead-through or ABB's Easy Teach Device, a person moves the arm through a path and the robot records it, which is the same idea as a robot learning a masseur's technique. At XtalPi's labs, more than 100 GoFa cobots already work close to scientists.

Gloved hands guiding a tool held by a white ABB robot arm
Gloved hands guiding a tool held by a white ABB robot arm

Teaching a GoFa path by hand with ABB's Easy Teach Device. Photo: ABB

I don't expect ABB arms in spas soon, since massage robots are specialist products. They are built from the same pieces, though: gentle force, safe contact and teaching by demonstration. A home arm that learns how your physio works on your shoulder seems possible to me, as long as it knows when to stop.

Long bright lab corridor lined with white automated workstations
Long bright lab corridor lined with white automated workstations

XtalPi's robot lab, where more than 100 ABB GoFa cobots work alongside scientists. Photo: ABB

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