LBR iiwa – intelligent industrial work assistant

By OEM Update Editorial July 17, 2017 12:17 pm IST

In the LBR iiwa lightweight robot, KUKA is presenting an intelligent assistant for pioneering production concepts.

The use of industrial robots has increased steadily in recent years. Due to increasingly complex processes, the automation environment is becoming ever more demanding, posing new challenges for manufacturers of industrial robots. In the face of the further development of industrial production processes, new sensitive and compliant solutions are required – also with regard to the increasing use of robots in the direct working environment of the human operator.

40 years after the first industrial application of robots, KUKA is opening up a new chapter in the story of modern industrial robotics in order to meet this challenge: By introducing the new LBR iiwa, KUKA is delivering on its promise to the market to present a lightweight robot for industrial applications. Sensitive and compliant, and equipped with mechanical and drive systems for industrial operation, the LBR iiwa heralds a new robot generation. And that is exactly what the name of the lightweight robot stands for. LBR iiwa – intelligent industrial work assistant.

“The KUKA LBR iiwa makes it possible to automate delicate and complex assembly tasks in which the use of robots was previously inconceivable,” explains Manfred Gundel, CEO of KUKA Roboter GmbH. “It enables us to automate and thus optimise high-performance and force-controlled processes.” KUKA has many years of experience in the development of the lightweight robot.

The LBR iiwa comes amazingly close to the motion sequences of the human arm. It can be operated in position, torque or impedance control mode. The integrated sensors and the impedance control endow the robot with a programmable compliance (axis-specific, Cartesian) in automatic operation. This gives the robot a tactile sense. As a result, tasks are no longer solved on the basis of position accuracy but by means of compliance. Its responsive collision detection function provided by integrated joint torque sensors in all axes makes the LBR iiwa an ideal solution for sensitive joining processes and allows the use of simple tools. As the compliance is provided by the robot rather than the tooling, the customer can save on cost-intensive technologies in the tools, as well as on complicated peripheral equipment. The robot is capable of reacting to external forces. With the aid of the sensitive collision detection function, the lightweight robot can move quickly to the contact point, thus achieving short cycle times.

Author:
Laura Schwarzbach, KUKA Roboter GmbH