Kuka

KUKA is a leading German producer of industrial robots for a variety of industries - from automotive and fabricated metals to food and plastics. The KUKA Robotics Corporation has over 20 subsidiaries worldwide, including: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India and most European countries.

The company name, KUKA, is an acronym for Keller und Knappich Augsburg, and at the same time is the registered trademark found on the industrial robots and other products they produce. The company was founded in 1898 and in 1995 was split into KUKA Robotics Corporation and KUKA Schweißanlagen GmbH (now KUKA Systems GmbH). The company headquarters are located in Augsburg, Germany. The company belongs to the publicly traded KUKA AG (earlier IWKA Group).

In 1973 KUKA created the world's first industrial robot with six electromechanically driven axes, known as FAMULUS. Today the company’s 4 and 6 axis robots range from 3 kg to 1300 kg payloads, and 350 mm to 3700 mm reach, SCARAs, palletizers, gantry and articulated robots, all controlled from a common PC based controller platform.

By 2006, the KUKA Robotics Corporation and its subsidiaries have installed close to 80,000 robots and the company has become one of the worldwide market leaders in industrial robots. KUKA industrial robots are used in a number of industries – from automotive and metal working to foodstuffs and plastics.

KUKA industrial robots are used in production by companies like: GM, Chrysler, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Ferrari, Harley-Davidson, Boeing, Siemens, IKEA, Swarovski, Wal-Mart, Budweiser, BSN Medical as well as Coca-Cola and others.

The KUKA Chair of Robotics (Prof. Henrik Christensen) at the Georgia Institute of Technology is one source of KUKA's future robotics developments. KUKA Robotics is member of several robotics associations like the north american Robotics Industries Association (RIA) or the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).