A sterile drape assembly is disclosed for a surgical robot. The surgical robot has a robotic arm including a plurality of links and a plurality of motorized joints for moving the plurality of links. At least one optical tracking element is located on one or more the links of the robotic arm. The sterile drape assembly has a surgical drape with an arm drape portion adapted to be disposed over the robotic arm and the one or more the links of the robotic arm. A drape belt cooperates with the arm drape portion to cover the at least one optical tracking element located on the one or more the links of the robotic arm.