KUKA enters clean room market

KUKA enters clean room market

Keywords: Robots, Glass

A new family of clean room industrial robots has been introduced into the US market to serve the panel display and substrate glass handling sectors of manufacturing industry.

The robots have been introduced by KUKA Robotics Corporation, part of KUKA Roboter GmbH of Augsburg, Germany. The family of robots includes what is claimed to be the industry's largest clean room robot, the kUKA KR180 L130CR, with a reach of 3.1 m, as well as the industry's most powerful clean room robot, the KR 500 CR, with a payload capacity of 550 kg. Both robots are based on KUKA's market leading robot designs.

According to Joe Campbell, director of strategic alliances at KUKA Robotics,the company has a long history in glass handling applications.

“It was natural for us to develop high-performance robots for flat panel display and glass substrate applications,” he said. “As larger displays begin to dominate the market, automation becomes even more critical,and robots such as the KR 180 CR and the KR 500 CR offer the industry unique solutions.”

The new six-axis robots are based on the company's existing high- performance robots. They feature polished and primed surfaces for the castings, multi-level 2-k-lacquer finish, stainless steel sheet metal covers and mounting material,in-line wrists without dust sealing and modified seals to avoid abrasion.

Both the KR 180 CR and the KR 500 CR meet appropriate ISO and DIN standards for clean room operation. The KR 180 L130 CR is a Class 5 machine according to DIN EN ISO 14644-1 and Class 100 according to US Federal Standard 209E, The KR 500 CR is a Class 7 machine according to DIN EN ISO 14644-1.

KUKA claims to have annual production of 10,000 robots and an installed base of 60,000 machines. The five- and six-axis machines range from 3 kg payload to 570 kg. And from 635 mm reach to 3.7 m. All are controlled from a common PC-based controller platform.

John MortimerAssociate Editor