Despite challenging times: KUKA is back at a major German trade fair and is presenting one of the broadest portfolios on the market at automatic 2022 in Munich. The automation professional from Augsburg shows products and solutions for new sectors – from medium-sized companies to food companies and microchip production in clean rooms.
“The entire KUKA team has worked under difficult conditions to ensure that visitors can experience KUKA personally for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic here on the Munich trade fair floor,” says Peter Mohnen, CEO of KUKA AG. “Even if the economic and political environment is currently difficult: Automation is a long-term, strong development. KUKA is helping to shape this development with the right innovations and products. We will benefit from this in the future”. Despite strong numbers, KUKA is also feeling the effects of the difficult global economic environment with the effects of the Ukraine war and the corona pandemic, with supply bottlenecks, material shortages, and inflation.
KUKA shows new cobot models
They test displays or buttons on machines, move individual parts or packaging from A to B or carry out quality checks using machine image processing: cobots. For the first time, KUKA is showing other models of the sensitive lightweight robots from the LBR iisy series – with an even longer range, payloads of 11 and 15 kilograms, and a higher protection class. The LBR iisy 11 R1300 and the LBR iisy 15 R930 should be available from the end of 2022. Alongside the LBR iisy 3, they are the first robots from KUKA to run on the new iiQKA.OS operating system. The new operating system is the future way of working with KUKA robots: intuitive, fast, and powerful.
Greater range, higher payloads: KUKA is expanding the LBR iisy series
Digital transformation of industry as a central topic
The entire industry is working to become more digital. KUKA not only supports companies here as a consultant but also supports them as product and solution providers. The KUKA.Sim simulation software makes it possible to program robot applications offline, commission them virtually, save time and work more efficiently. To do this, KUKA.Sim creates a digital twin – an image of the subsequent production process – for maximum planning security.
In addition to the hardware, the focus is also increasingly on the software: This includes, for example, the KUKA platform iiQoT, which KUKA developed together with Device Insight and simplifies remote monitoring and system management of the entire robot fleet. The AI-based KUKA AIVI control system, on the other hand, is revolutionizing intralogistics by ensuring the optimal flow of materials and the perfect utilization of driverless transport vehicles. For plant construction, KUKA is focusing on the digital factory and is pursuing the goal of a flexible and adaptable plant to be created, which optimizes itself via the collected process values in the production operation. The entire value chain is considered.
This content was first published on the KUKA website.