KUKA Welding Robots Making More Money for you Page 1 of 15

KUKA Welding Robot Making More

Money for You

1. Reduce the downtime due to

collisions.
It is not uncommon that many collisions
happen between the welding robot and the
jig, workpiece, and/or positioner everyday
in the robotic welding cell. These can be due
to operators carelessness, workpiece
dimension consistency, welding
consumables quality, and wear and tear of
welding wire liner. It takes a long time to
recalibrate the robot without the correct
technology.

KUKA eliminates the painstaking and tedious work of robot zero-point calibration
(mastering) by providing the electronic calibration method. The operator only has to
plug in an electronic probe into the robot
calibration hole located near to each axis, use the
teach pendant to move the
robot slightly, and the robot
control system will guide the
operator to recover the
zero-position instantly.

2. Reduce the programming time

and operators mistake.
Programming the welding of a workpiece has always been a
time-consuming and stressing job. Conventionally, the
operator has to move the eyes between the workpiece and
the teach pendant, the fingers have to struggle with the
joystick and the keys of the teach pendant in order to move one axis by one axis to
achieve the optimum torch orientation and welding path.

KUKA comes to the rescue by providing a 6D dimensional mouse. This adopted

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technology from the European Space Research Laboratory enables the operator to
move all the 6 axis of the robot with one hand, making the robot as the extended arm
of the operator. This has dramatically reduced the programming time of a new
workpiece, enables the operator to focus 100% on the workpiece, and at the same time
reduced the mental stress of the operator which indirectly reduces his or her mistakes.

3. Minimize the damage if collision does

happen.
In order to ensure the continuous operation
of the robotic welding station, it is imperative
that the damages to the major equipment
should be minimized when collisions happen
between the welding robot and the jig,
workpiece, and/or positioner.

KUKA offers the best in the industry by

providing anti-collision on the robot body
itself also. This also indirectly reduces the
possible damages to peripheries. The
current required to drive the servo motor on each axis of the robot under normal
working condition are monitored in real time. If at anytime, any combination of these
currents exceeds the normal level, the robot control system will immediately stop the
robot because this signifies the corresponding servo motors are blocked, or collision has
happened. The sensitivity of the anti-collision can be set by adjusting the activation of
the control system according to the amount of current above the normal level.

4. Rugged and reliable robot position feedback.

In the real production environment, other than the vibrations due to
collision, the position feedback devices on the robot have to also
withstand the heat and also the electromagnetic interference from
the welding process. Drawing from long experience in the
automotive industry, KUKA has changed from encoder to resolver
technology to ensure a rugged and reliable passion feedback.

5. Improved Operator Productivity and Reduced

Operation Mistake by Continuous and
Automatic Monitoring of Operator Actions on
the Robotic System.

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It is a know fact all operator needs

supervision in order to improve their
productivity. KUKA robots have automated
this task by offering an automatic recording
of all operator actions on the robotic system.
It is just some flips of screen in order to see
what the operator has done onto the robot
and what the operating conditions were.

6. Minimize the damage to the welding hose

assemblies.
It is very often that the robot arm has to be
programmed in awkward positions so that the
welding torch can reach certain welding seams
in the optimum orientation. This normally
happens when the reach or working range of the
robot is not sufficient. With these robot
positions, the hose assemblies are strangled
around the robot body. During normal operation
and the robot is moving at high speed, the
rubbing between the hose assemblies and the
robot body will cause rampant and
unpredictable damages to the hose assemblies.
This in turns cause major down times and hence
lost in productivity, not mentioning the high cost
of replacing those cables and hose assemblies.

To overcome the above problems, KUKA has

offered the following solutions:

Increase the reach of the robot: Within the 6

kg class of robot, KUKA offers the longest
reach of 1.61 m.

Extensible reach: KUKA also is the only robot manufacturer who offers the
possibility of arm extension for the KR 16 model. This is to protect the customers
investment and minimize their investment in case the requirement for a longer
reach is inevitable. KR 16s reach can be extended from 1.61 to 1.91 m (KR 16L6).

Standard ceiling mounting: The standard KUKA welding robot KR16 is also the only
robot which can be ceiling-mounted without any modification to axis 1.

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Ceiling-mounting robot
offers the biggest working
envelope (3.2 m for the KR
16 model, or 3.82 m for the
KR 16 L6 model) and also
the best position to avoid
entangling of cables and
hoses.

370o working envelope on

axis 1The standard KUKA
KR 16 robot is also the only
welding robot in the
industry which offers a
370o working envelope on axis 1. Other than providing more possibilities of robot
orientation to avoid entanglement of hose assemblies, this working envelope allows
many more jigs to be positioned around the robot, hence one robot is able to weld
more products without the needs of changing jig for different product. This also
constitutes an increase in productivity.

Provisions of fixation points for hose assemblies: KUKA robot is also the only robot
with many fixation points on its body for the fixing of hose assemblies or other
peripheries directly onto the robot body so as to avoid entanglement of hose
assemblies. For the 6 kg payload robot, it is possible to mount an additional 10 kg of
load on its 3rd axis and additional 20 kg on its 1st axis.

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KUKA ROBOT HAS THE LONGEST ARM REACH IN ITS CLASS

( 6 KG PAYLOAD )

KUKA
KR 16

VR / TA Series

1374mm

IRB 1410

1440mm

1611mm

KUKA
KR 6 Arc

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7. Minimize new part programming time.

Whenever a new part is to be welded by the
robot, all the welding seams have to be
programmed or teach-in. The more
complex the workpiece, the longer the time
required. Conventionally, these works are
done at the actual robotic cell. When
these activities are carried out, the robot is
not actually welding, hence there is a lost
of arc-on time and productivity.

In order to achieve the highest arc-on time

possible, KUKA is able to provide a highly
user-friendly offline programming tool
(Optional). This tool is called KUKA Sim Pro.
The whole welding program can be made
offline beforehand with this tool and the
robot can carry on with its welding task on
its existing parts. The cycle time can also
be estimated with this tool. The
programming can be carried out in the
comfortable office environment. Other
than enhancing the concentration of the
programmer and resulting in a better
program, this tool also eliminates the
accidents and lost in productivity which could happen if programming is done at the
actual robot cell. Not forgetting also that the robot is still running production of the old
parts while the programming of the new part is being carried out. During the time to
produce the new part, the program just need to be downloaded to the robot controller.
After making some fine adjustment, the new parts can be produced with the much
shorter set-up time. This maximizes the arc-on time and the productivity of the welding
robot.

To summarize, the KUKA SimPro provides the following benefits:

Teaching and programming of new parts do not have to be carried out at the
robot cell, the production capacity of the robot will not be affected.

Eliminate the danger and damages to the equipment if teaching and

programming is done at the robot cell.

Increase the efficiency of the programmer, the program will be optimized.

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8. Create certificate for every robot welded

seams and be 100% confident on its quality.

It happens very often that quality assurance auditor challenges the production
personnel on the robot-welded seams quality. The production personnel have no
answer to this because there is no record of the actual welding parameters for each
seam. Although the production personnel can see that the welding parameters setting
on the welding robot, but he is not
sure whether the all the related
equipment is generating the
required parameters. He has no
way to check this because there is
no actual measurement and
recording of all the parameters for
each welded seam. It is also a
known fact that the equipment
and components can age and has
certain service lifespan.

KUKA can provide a solution to the

above situation by incorporating a
full-fledge real time welding
parameters monitoring system. It
checks current, voltage, wire
speed, real welding speed etc. of a
particular welding seam. It also
records the consumption of
shielding gas and wire. The
system is able to automatically
identify welding faults, create
certificates of quality for each
seam, find the optimized welding parameters and provide early diagnostic of
maintenance.

9. Optimized Robot Speed

Due to its cast Aluminum Alloy
construction and Finite Element
Analysis design, the KUKA robot is
match exactly to the dynamic model in
the robot controller.

KUKA robot is able to optimized its

speed according to the actual load it is carrying and hence improve the cycle time and

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extend its service life. KUKA robots acceleration is 25% higher than the corresponding
model from other manufacturer.s.

A comparison of various manufacturers is given in the table below. It is not difficult to

find out that KUKA has the best reach and speed ratio.

Robot Reach Payloa Sup Speed of each axis

(mm) d pl. Axis 1 Axis 2 Axis 3 Axis 4 Axis 5 Axis 6
(kg) Load
(kg)

KUKA KR6 arc 1611 6 30 156o/s 156o/s 156o/s 343o/s 362o/s 659o/s

KUKA KR16 1611 16 30 156o/s 156o/s 156o/s 330o/s 330o/s 615o/s

KUKA KR16L6 1911 6 30 156o/s 156o/s 156o/s 335o/s 335o/s 647o/s

ABB 1410 933 5 37

Panarobot 1305 6 120o/s 120o/s 120o/s 300o/s 300o/s 375o/s

VR006

Panarobo 1334 6 170o/s 190o/s 190o/s 370o/s 375o/s 600o/s

TA-1400

Motoman 1390 3 150o/s 160o/s 170o/s 340o/s 334o/s 520o/s

EA1400N

Fanuc 100iB/6S 951 6 200o/s 200o/s 260o/s 400o/s 400o/s 720o/s

10. Open Windows @ RealTime PC Based Control

Architecture
KUKA is the only robot with the above control technology. This reduces tremendously
the integration, maintenance, operating, training and upgrading cost. Remote diagnosis
and ERP type of reporting can be implemented with minimal extra cost. Software PLC
cuts down the total system integration cost by eliminating the hardware PLC
requirement.

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11. Longest Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF)

KUKA robots have a Mean Time Between Failure of more then 75,000 Hours. This is a
very stringent selection criteria in industries which have a very high downtime cost.

12. Direct support team right at your door step

The best equipment needs the best support team in order to be the best in the market,
Kuka Robot Automation ( Malaysia ) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Kuka Global ( Germany ) ,
and the Regional Office for South East Asia with a strong team of more then 50 staff
recognizes this. With more than 10 years of experience in the local market, we are
able to provide all the support you need to ensure the continuous operation of your
robot, or any other robotic requirement for the upgrading of your facilities.

13. The Most Experienced Robotic Welding

Team
We offer you our wide experience in robotic welding, accumulated over more than 10
years of satisfying our customers requirement, covering MIG/MAG, TIG, Plasma, Twin
Wire Welding, Adaptive Welding with Laser Sensor, Welding with Touch and /or Through
Arc Sensing. We can also share our experience with you on welding of various product,
e.g. automotive components, steel furniture, steel structure, machine structure, office
equipment chasis, bus structure, forklift structure, locomotive structure, earth moving
equipment, material handling equipments etc. Please refer to the attached sheet for
some of the projects which have been completed by us.

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Some of the Robotic Welding Projects Done By Our Team of Engineers

Photo of System Product System No of

Welded Configuration systems /
Location

Exhaust KR 6 with 7 axis, 11/Thailand

pipes for Fronius TPS 4000
cars. and touch sensing.

Steel beds KR 6 with KEMPPI 1/Malaysia

Pro 4000, Binzel
Robo 24 torch, KUKA
torch cleaner

Office KR 6 with 1/Malaysia

equipment Thermaldyne Ultima
chasis 150 and 2 rotating
jigs.

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Office KR 6 with KEMPPI 1/ Malaysia

furniture Pro 4000, Binzel
metal Robo 24 torch, KUKA
components torch cleaner

Armor KR 6 with 7 axis, 1/

vehicle gantry positioner, Singapore
component touch sensing,
welding through arc sensing
and Fronius TPS
4000

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Forklift side KR 16 with Fronius 3 / China

body TPS 5000, touch
sensing, through arc
sensing, 2 nos. of
head and tail
positioners.

Bus body KR 30 L16 with 6 / Malaysia

structure Fronius TPS 4000,
welding touch sensing.

Train chasis KR 16 L6 with 1 / China

welding adjustable 8 m,
3000 kg head and
tail stock positioner,
3000 kg turnover
positioner, Fronius
Time Twin TPS 5000,
touch sensing, and
through arc sensing.

Stainless KR 6 with Kemppi 2/

steel space TIG welding Singapore
frame for the equipment.
roof of MRT
station.

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Welding of KUKA KR 6 with 3 / Malaysia

beam for Fronius TP 4000,
storage torch cleaner, Drum
racking. welding wire and
two linear tracks for
positioning.

Welding of KUKA KR 16 with 1/ China

golf club Thermaldyne Ultima
heads 150, Servo Robot
Laser Sensor.

Welding of KUKA KR 16 with 3 / China

structure for Fronius TPS 4000,
photocopies torch cleaner, head
and tail positioner
and linear track.

Welding of KUKA KR 6 KS Arc 1 / Malaysia

excavator with Lincoln 500 A
shovel 100% duty cycle
welding machine,
through arc sensor,
touch sensor.

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Welding of KUKA KR 16 with 1 / Malaysia

Aluminum to Fronius CMT
Steel with system.
Cold Metal
Transfer
System

TIG and MIG KUKA KR 16 with 1 / Malaysia

welding of automatic torch
Machine changer, Kemppi
components Kempomig 4000R
for the and Master tig 3500.
electronic
industry.

MIG welding KUKA KR 16 with 1 / Malaysia

of rubber Kempomig 4000R.
glove lines
components.

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Welding of KR 16 with 1 / Malaysia

white board Kemppomig
frame.

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