Hirebotics Extends Cobot Reach with Line Tracking and Modular Linear Rail

Hirebotics LLC has added two extensions to its collaborative robots — line tracking and modular rail capabilities — aimed at a problem every fabricator knows well: the work doesn't fit inside a fixed work envelope. The company unveiled the technologies at IMTS 2026 in Chicago.

"Both capabilities come out of the same problem, from two directions: The work doesn't fit inside a fixed work envelope. One is about how big or awkward the part is. The other is about the part not holding still."

That's Matthew Bush, CEO of Hirebotics, framing the launch. It's a tidy summary — and an honest one.

Following Parts That Won't Sit Still

The line tracking capability targets conveyor-based painting and coating operations. Available on the Cobot Painter, it lets the robot follow a moving part and hold its programmed painting path while the conveyor keeps running.

The mechanics, per Hirebotics: the Cobot Painter calibrates line tracking through the Beacon platform, detects conveyor movement using an encoder and sensor, maintains the programmed path relative to the moving part, and automatically detects an arriving part to begin the operation.

"Line tracking addresses moving production. It's available on the Cobot Painter for conveyor-based painting and coating operations where stopping the line or removing every part to accommodate a stationary robot would add handling and interrupt production flow."

Bush again. The pitch is straightforward — don't stop the line for the robot; make the robot keep up with the line.

Reaching Past the Envelope

The second extension tackles size rather than motion. A Hirebotics cobot carries a 68.9-inch reach. A 12-ft. frame or a 20-ft. structural assembly blows past that. The new linear rail — available in 5-ft. (1.5 m) increments or custom lengths — lets the cobot travel along the length of a large workpiece instead of forcing operators to reposition the part.

The rail is designed to work across welding, plasma cutting, and painting applications. Bush pointed to shipyards, marine fabrication, structural and heavy fabrication, trailers and truck bodies, agricultural and construction equipment, and tanks and vessels as natural fits.

Hirebotics credits its own customers for the idea. Shops were already stretching cobot reach with Magswitch mounting and headstock-tailstock positioners.

"The linear rail turns that customer ingenuity into a standard Hirebotics offering. Instead of each manufacturer having to engineer its own way to reposition the cobot along the work, customers will have a repeatable way to extend the system's working range."

The Automation Roadmap

The rail ships with manual positioning today, but the roadmap is more ambitious. The Beacon platform will guide operators through position changes, and Hirebotics plans to automate rail movement by the end of 2026. The goal: Beacon controls the cobot movement itself, creating an automated seventh axis without pulling operators out of the platform they already use.

"More broadly, we're continuing to expand what manufacturers can automate across welding, cutting, and painting while building Beacon as the common platform underneath those applications."

That last point may matter most. One platform, more applications, no new operating model to learn each time a shop adds capability.