Kuka demonstrate heavy-duty palletising robot

Visitors to Kuka's stand were also impressed by the exploits of the world's strongest robot, the Titan, after it single-handedly erected a maypole weighing hundreds of kilos. Kuka's new KR 1300 is based on the Titan and is designed for heavy duty palletising tasks as it can lift payloads of up to 1300kg.

Kuka's other new palletising robots, the KR 300, 470 and 700, are capable of handling payloads from 300kg-700kg and offer long reaches of between 3150mm-3320mm. They also feature new arm and hollow wrist designs for delivering very short cycle times.

The 700 variant, which Kuka says offers the fastest throughput time in its payload category, showed off its skills at the event by effortlessly stacking a pile of 700 litre wooden barrels.

Frank Zimmermann, Kuka's key technology manager for wood sector applications, comments: "The forestry industry showed a great deal of interest in Kuka's latest robotic solutions and LIGNA proved to be a successful event as it provided a substantial number of high-quality sales leads for a variety of interesting automation projects."

These new models join Kuka's popular series of palletising robots, which already include smaller payload versions, such as the nimble KR 40 and 180, for high-speed packing requirements.