KUKA to use youBot in manipulation competition

KUKA, a giant in the Ger­man indus­tri­al robot­ics indus­try, has been around in some form or anoth­er since the 1800s. In the last 30 years or so, KUKA has emerged as a dri­ving force behind indus­tri­al robot­ics in Europe and worldwide.

Accord­ing to a July 2013 arti­cle from Robot­ic Trends, KUKA is host­ing a mobile manip­u­la­tion com­pe­ti­tion, invit­ing engi­neers and cre­ative minds from around the globe to come up with new appli­ca­tions in the mobile manip­u­la­tion field. The most use­ful and inno­v­a­tive appli­ca­tion stands to win 20,000 euros. Appli­ca­tions are to be judged based on orig­i­nal­i­ty, tech­no­log­i­cal readi­ness, eco­nom­ic impact and oth­er criteria.

The robot being used for this com­pe­ti­tion, the youBot, was unveiled by KUKA a few years ago, accord­ing the arti­cle. The youBot is a flex­i­ble mobil­i­ty robot with sev­er­al open inter­faces. The robot has omni­di­rec­tion­al wheels and a five-axis arm. There is a two-fin­ger grip­per attached to the arm which is sim­i­lar to the grip­per used by Canadarm on the Inter­na­tion­al Space Station. 

The youBot can be used in sev­er­al appli­ca­tions. One of the most recent was IKEA fur­ni­ture assem­bly with MIT researchers. These robots can per­form sev­er­al dif­fer­ent mate­r­i­al han­dling appli­ca­tions. And, giv­en a quick change in end effec­tors, they may become even more flex­i­ble. Though, the idea of a mobile robot with a saw blade for, say, a cut­ting appli­ca­tion, does seem a lit­tle scary.

While the dead­line has already passed to enter this com­pe­ti­tion, the appli­ca­tions that come out of it are sure to help fur­ther improve appli­ca­tions through­out the indus­tri­al robot world.

Robots​.com engi­neers appli­ca­tions for KUKA robots on a dai­ly basis along with their cus­tomers, but they’re not giv­ing out prize mon­ey. Instead, they’re hand­ing their clients a state-of-the-art robot­ic sys­tem that will auto­mate their appli­ca­tions and improve their productivity.

Robots​.com, a cer­ti­fied inte­gra­tor for KUKA Robot­ics, has sev­er­al robots avail­able for pur­chase and cus­tomiza­tion. Grant­ed, they are not mobile like the youBot, but they are six-axis artic­u­lat­ed robots that have mount­ing flex­i­bil­i­ty and can per­form a wide range of tasks from assem­bly to pal­letiz­ing to arc weld­ing to routing.

For more infor­ma­tion on design­ing your own appli­ca­tion with a KUKA robot, con­tact Robots​.com today online or at 877−762−6881.