The KUKA engineering works was founded in Augsburg by Hans Keller and Jakob Knappich in 1898, which is how you get KUKA (Keller Und Knappich Augsburg). From 1973 KUKA began designing and building their own 6 axis robots. KUKA’s international business took off in a big way in the 1980s, requiring KUKA presence 'on the spot'. KUKA service centres were therefore set up in Europe and the USA. Growth of the KUKA companies continued on into the 90s.
As at January 2014, KUKA is Europe’s number one manufacturer of robotic products and firmly established as one of the big 3 global robotic suppliers. KUKA robotics have been represented via agents in Australia since 1999, and as of January 2014 are represented in Australia as a fully owned subsidiary of the German parent, as KUKA Robotics Australia Pty Ltd.
KUKA products start with the 6kg payload Agilus robot for high speed picking and packing, though a huge range of 6 axis robots and palletising robots with payloads of 40 kg through to 700kg and the massive 1,300kg payload Titan PA.
KUKA Robotics Australia works with many integrators and partners across Australia and New Zealand to assist them implement high quality automation, fully factory backed. They offer certified or field training, service, maintenance and spare parts and work closely with their Partners to ensure the end manufacturer gets the best mix of product, knowledge and on-going lifecycle support. KUKA products are driven by reliability, with extended maintenance intervals compared to other robots, and a nominated availability of the robot of 99.9 per cent over the life of the robot.
