14 DAY TRIAL // KUKA Robotics (and its German parent company KUKA) is one of the world's leading manufacturers of industrial robots and automation systems for a wide variety of industries, from automotive and fabricated metals to food and more.
The Kuka robots are currently used by heavy names in the industry such as GM, Chrysler, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Harley-Davidson, Boeing , IKEA, Siemens, Swarovski, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Budweiser and more.
The robots are used in factories, for welding, handling, packaging, or other automation tasks, but also in hospitals, for brain surgery and radiography. The German company built its first industrial robot in 1972, known as Famulus, this being the world's first robot with six electro mechanically driven axes.
Today, the company's 4 and 6 axis robots range from 3kg to 600 kilos payloads, and 350 mm to 3700 mm reach, parallelizes, gantry and articulated robots, all being controlled from a common PC based controller platform.
KUKA KR 1000 titan is said to be the strongest and biggest 6-axis industrial robot available on the market. It features a payload of 1000 kilos, with a supplementary load of 50 kilos, so it is used primarily in the foundry, glass, building materials and automotive industries. It weighs 4700 kilos and has a reach of 3.2 meters and the ability to withstand a static torque of 60.000 newton meters.
The KR 1000 robot has a total of nine motors, which together deliver the power of a car. Given such technical specifications, the titan robot could be successfully used for bringing distances of up to 6.5m and ensuring precise handling of objects such as blocks, stone, glass, huge components for ships, aircraft and precast concrete parts.
As for the structure, the robot sports a robust steel base frame and a new drive concept and in the axes 1 and 3, two motors feed into a single gear unit, while the axis 2 is being powered by two large motors and each unit has its own gear.
Stuart Shepherd, president of KUKA Robotics Corporation stated: "This new robot can be implemented in applications which until now required at least 2 robots, lift stations or other lifting equipment thus saving valuable floor space and increasing efficiency. Its payload capacity gives production planners the speed and dynamics they previously only dreamed of."
The modular structure of KUKA robots means they can quickly and easily be reconfigured for other tasks. All robots operate with a dependable PC-based control platform.