KUKA has revised its best-selling product series to date: the KR QUANTEC. The new generation can be ordered from January onwards with initial delivery scheduled for April 2019. Among other things, the series has been optimized in terms of performance, cost-effectiveness and flexibility.
Since its market launch in 2010, over 100,000 KR QUANTEC series robots have been delivered. The reasons for this are high reliability and the ?all-rounder? robot’s uniquely broad spectrum of applications compared to competitors. With a payload capacity between 120 to 300 kg, the robots are designed for use in nearly every market segment – such as the automotive industry, the foundry sector and the field of medicine, as well as for processing and handling tasks. KUKA’s experience in the dynamic automation industry was leveraged for the revision of the KR QUANTEC series.
Increasing flexibility, lower operating costs, shorter delivery times
The portfolio the new KR QUANTEC generation has been optimized. Thanks to a slimmer modular system, delivery times are reduced significantly, for example. "At the same time, we can offer our customers flexible, tailor-made robots that represent a sound investment in the future. Among other ways, we achieve this through the option of upgrading payload capacity, high variability through special-purpose variants in the portfolio or technical optimizations such as shortened stopping distances or an optimized working range," states Wolfgang Bildl.
The updated design leads to a lower TCO (total cost of ownership) since previous maintenance measures are partially eliminated. In addition, downtimes and maintenance requirements are minimized through the inclusion of a new cable and energy supply system concept as well as a reduction in the number of spare parts (keyword: optimized modular system). This simultaneously increases availability. Beyond this, start-up has also been simplified further.
New motion modes for ideal process quality
The new KR QUANTEC generation is equipped for additional "motion modes". These are software add-ons which ensure optimal robot motion for specific applications. The ?path mode? allows for CP motion with greater accuracy and precision while the "dynamic mode" increases speed and thus reduces cycle time at bottlenecks in the production lines. The first motion modes are slated for availability in the second half of 2019 and can be loaded easily via the robot controller.