KUKA at automatica 2023: KUKA Dome should be unique
Augsburg/Munich, May 11, 2023 - Whether in the skilled trades, SMEs or battery pack production: KUKA is making automation easily available to more and more industries. Under the motto "Keep on Moving," the Augsburg-based automation group will be demonstrating in Munich from June 27 to 30 how robots and system concepts are evolving to leave a lasting mark on a changing world.
"Sustainable business is one of the most pressing tasks of our time. Energy-efficient robots and systems operated with economical DC technology are an important lever. With our latest KR QUANTEC family robots, our customers can save up to 60% energy compared to our 2000 series generation produced until 2010," says Wilfried Eberhardt, Chief Marketing Officer at KUKA. "In the process, we now have a portfolio that goes far beyond automotive. With our cobots and digital services, robotics is becoming intuitive and easy to use for everyone. For us, automatica is the perfect showcase to present our latest approaches to an attractive target group."
With an end-to-end digitized customer journey from the robot configurator to online purchasing, a battery pack production line, the complete LBR iisy Cobot series and three research teams that are finalists for the KUKA Innovation Award 2023, KUKA is paying tribute to the trend themes of the fair: Digitalization & Artificial Intelligence, Sustainable Production and Future of Work.
Also included for the first time: the know-how from plant engineering that has been built up over decades. In a somewhat different form of presentation, KUKA shows virtually which new areas fully automated large-scale systems are entering.
Big screen at the trade fair: KUKA brings production systems to the trade fair booth
It has an outer diameter of 10 meters and will be an eye-catcher at the booth: the KUKA Dome. A dome in which large production systems can be visually experienced in around 90 seconds. For the first time, KUKA is thus bringing all of its systems engineering expertise to the trade fair floor. With the KUKA Dome, the company is demonstrating in a very small space what is currently possible in global large-scale plant engineering. Visitors travel virtually to Toledo, Ohio, to the KUKA Toledo Production Operations (KTPO), experience state-of-the-art battery production or a brand new system in England for automated, modular house construction. In this new field, KUKA already has orders or is involved in projects from the UK and the Arab region, among others.
Future of Work: "Robots for the People" with LBR iisy and iiQKA.OS
Presented for the first time 12 months ago in Munich: the combination of the KUKA Cobot LBR iisy and the new operating system iiQKA.OS. Since then, the product family has grown. The complete Cobot product family will be on display at the KUKA booth this year, with payloads from 3 to 15 kg - and for the first time also as the mobile Cobot KMR iisy. In keeping with the iiQKA campaign motto "Robots for the People", visitors will be able to hand-guide and program the cobots themselves. Other LBR iisy show realistic use cases for various industries, for example the electronics industry.
Right next to it, the final teams of the KUKA Innovation Award present their creative robotics ideas with the LBR iisy. The goal: to automate tasks quickly and safely without being experts in the field themselves. At the fair, they will showcase their creative solutions for the oil and gas industry, the fashion and textile industry, and for small and medium-sized enterprises. On the penultimate day of the trade show, the winning team of the innovation competition, which is endowed with 20,000 euros, will be selected.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are also a target group that KUKA is focusing on with regard to cobots. They need easy access to robotics, need to gain experience and learn about the benefits. Cobots are best suited for this, as they can be easily programmed and put into operation. Whether they then work alone or share a workstation with humans is up to the individual - depending on which process is to be automated. It is precisely these hybrid application possibilities that are becoming increasingly important with cobots.
"Keep on Moving": KUKA celebrates 125th anniversary this year
Das KUKA Jubiläumsmotto „Keep on Moving“ trägt das traditionsreiche Unternehmen aus Augsburg durch das gesamte Jahr. Nur einen Monat nach der Messe wird am Hauptsitz in Augsburg gefeiert: Seit 125 Jahren ist es das Ziel von KUKA, den Menschen das Leben und Arbeiten zu erleichtern. 1898 begann die Erfolgsgeschichte, als Johann Josef Keller und Jakob Knappich ein Acetylenwerk für Beleuchtungen gründeten. Das Telegrammkürzel aus den Anfangsbuchstaben der Firmenbezeichnung »Keller und Knappich Augsburg« wurde mit der Zeit zum Markenbegriff: KUKA. In all den Jahren hat sich das Unternehmen immer wieder neu erfunden. Damals wie heute gilt: Tradition trifft auf Technologie und Innovation.
Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> Go to the Cobot group on LinkedIn (link). The author is also a consultant (robotics, tech & finance). Hardly anyone should have a comparable market and solution overview. Thanks to state subsidies, SMEs have the opportunity of a company visit with concrete recommendations etc. at a flat rate of 1,750 € ("special areas" 800 €) incl. travel.
