KUKA, an international manufacturer of industrial robotics, has revealed how it utilises MakerBot 3D printing technology in its Development and Technology Center in Augsburg, Germany.
The Chinese-owned company is working to develop and supply robotics to a range of industries, like aerospace and electronics, across the globe. 3D printing is being harnessed for rapid prototyping purposes, as well as the manufacture of end-use robotic hands. The KUKA team also uses 3D models to enhance the assembly process, working out the requirements of fixtures, the tools needed to make them, before printing them overnight and building the fixtures the following day.
Engineers at KUKA turned to 3D printing technology in a bid to reduce weight and the number of parts required. It’s also enabling KUKA to perfect the design at a quicker rate.
“We use 3D printing with MakerBot at a fairly early phase,” said Soren Papsdorf, Head of Manufacturing Engineering, during a MakerBot visit to the company’s HQ in Germany. “As soon as we give models and data to our suppliers that make metal components, we start 3D printing robot parts because we can do that developmental stage with one-to-one scale printed components. By the time we have actual aluminium parts, we have already made a number of revisions.”
MakerBot/ YouTube
KUKA MakerBot
The majority of KUKA’s robots are six-axis machines, with a payload capacity ranging from 3 kilograms to more than a tonne of a handling capacity. They are the result of KUKA’s Application Engineering Team’s endeavour. This team has been built up over the last four years to develop new applications, focusing on sensitive robotics, human-robot collaboration and mobile robotics.
Human-robot collaboration is a key component of the direction KUKA wants to go, and the company’s adoption of 3D printing technology is an important cog in that wheel. The MakerBot machines are often in operation for 24 hours a day. In 2016, KUKA clocked up nearly 7,000 hours of 3D printing time on just one platform, with a success rate of 92%. Such a performance saw the MakerBot Replicator Z18 ward off competition from its human colleagues to win the KUKA Employee of the Year. It supports the theme of human and technology co-operation, an ideology that underscores the ambition of KUKA through the manufacture of robotics and their supply to industry players.
“I think human-robot collaboration is the future of robotics,” Papsdorf adds. “Human-robot collaboration allows you to combine the advantages of a robot with the advantages of a human being. Seeing, feeling, being able to react quickly.”
Otmar Honsberg, Head of the Application Engineering Team, KUKA finishes: “The 3D printing enables us to create application tools in a very short time and therefore we have the chance to make short time schedules for our customers. I think without 3D printing we could not be as successful as we are at the moment.”
