World’s First Carbon Fiber Composite Robot - The KUKA Robotics Palletizing Robot

KUKA Robotics Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of industrial robots, today announced the availability of the new KUKA KR 100-2 PA(tm) palletizing robot. The new robot and KUKA's KR 180 PA(tm) robot are the only robots made in part from state-of-the-art carbon fiber composite materials. This material makes the robot arm lighter, faster and less expensive and ultimately increases the customer's throughput. Specifically designed for high-speed, medium-payload palletizing/handling tasks up to 100 kg, the robot's small footprint and highest vertical reach gives customers added flexibility in a minimum space requirement.

"Our customers were demanding shorter cycle times for their lighter payload palletizing applications," said Joe Campbell, director of strategic alliances for KUKA Robotics Corporation. "The KR 100-2 PA robot delivers increased throughput with its improved speed and the most efficient work envelope available."

"Manufacturer's customers continue to develop innovative packaging for their customers and so, must produce products in new shapes, materials and sizes. We have to keep up with that demand for flexibility by offering the right palletizing solution for each project," said Salh Khan, president of AIDCO International a system partner of KUKA Robotics Corporation. "We believe the KUKA KR 100-2 PA(tm) robot will be the robot of choice for mid-sized palletizing applications."

The KUKA KR 100-2 PA four-axis robot's third axis linkage is made of carbon fiber composite material. This state-of-the-art material makes the robot light without sacrificing high stiffness. This allows it to stack loads weighing up to 100 kg to heights of up to 3000 mm, at rates as high as 600 palletizing cycles per hour. The robot is easy to program using KUKA's PalletTech(tm) palletizing software (PalletTech Layout(tm) is included with the robot) that replaces difficult programming with an intuitive graphical Windows interface. This custom-tailored application software makes it easier to carry out programming on a conventional PC and calculate ideal pallet structure. Through the use of PalletTech's off-line unit-load pattern editor commissioning and set-up times as well as the effort needed to create new pallet patterns can be significantly reduced. Additionally, PalletTech monitors and controls the process during a product change and when restarting after a fault.

Posted February 17^th, 2005