[3] Baxter has an animated screen for a "face" that allows it to display multiple facial expressions determined by its current status.

[4] Baxter runs on the open-source Robot Operating System on a regular, personal computer which is in its chest.

[6] Many universities are now using Baxter as a part of their courses in robotics, mechanical engineering, and computational sciences.

Baxter provides many advantages over traditional robots in that no cages are required for its use, and students can work alongside it in a classroom environment without the potential for accidents.

[9] Currently, the head-mounted camera, sonar head sensors, and IR hand lighting is only available for use on the Research Robot model of Baxter.

Other industrial robots are built to perform one task rapidly with many fast-moving parts that make them unsafe for working alongside humans.