Interview with Jesús Sánchez, director of technical area of Kuka Robots
What are the trends in the sector of industrial robotics and the most significant innovations?
We need to differentiate between the different sectors. In medicine, over the past few years, Robotics is working on more sophisticated tasks in medicine. KUKA collaborates with companies such as Siemens and Accuray in the creation of highly precise radiation equipment for the removal of tumors. This new technique prevents very distressing for patients and also extremely costly interventions for the care centres and administrations.
As for robotic services, the new frontier is to provide market robots capable of directly interacting with people. Today there are many companies offering all kinds of robots of services: from automatic vacuum cleaners that recognize the rooms and avoid obstacles to capable of interacting with the people directly through the language museum guides. Within this sector, Kuka has developed the robot LWRS. Its main features are two: incorporates sensors of effort in all axis and has a weight of 15 kg, and is also able to move a weight of 15 kg. So far, a robot who get 15 kg used to weigh around 200 Kg... This robot is especially indicated for tasks where interacts directly with people.
Within this section, you mention should also be mobile robotics. It is the set of applications designed to provide mobility to an industrial robot and peripherals. This section Kuka just got an important order to supply 45 units of transport Airbus within the new A350 project.
Logistics is also an important sector...
Yes, this will be the next industrial branch where there will be the fastest growing in the introduction of robotic solutions. In this sector, Kuka provides not only equipment, but also advanced software for the management of the logistic chain from the beginning to the end. Our applications allow even the connection of our robots to the ERP of the client for the preparation of orders.
What is the most amazing application that has seen lately in industrial robotics?
Pig cutting (more information (www.banss.de/englisch/sites/index.htm) can be obtained)
Within the food industry, are also finding more and more and more applications to industrial robots. In the above link can obtain information from our partner Banss, which uses our robots for automatic installations of quartered in pigs.
What is can do today with industrial robots that could not be made a decade ago?
Open systems. The interconnection with business management, for example SAP software www.kuka.com/es/pressevents/news/NN_030321_AUTOMATICA.htm
Information management, the traceability of the processes, the complexity of producing products with more and more options... all of this requires bots to provide increasingly sophisticated communication channels, enabling a level of communication more complex areas of production and management.
Do you describe a robotic tool that has been an earlier and a later in any industrial sector?
The simulation. Until some years ago, the facilities should be created to be able to verify its operation. With the arrival of simulation systems it is possible to verify the operation of the robotic cells and even program them before that they exist. This greatly shortens the time of entry into production of manufacturing lines.
"There is room for the sale of robots in the plastics industry"
Gustavo Moscardó, director sales and marketing of Kuka Robots, also responded to the survey plastics universal to the rest of suppliers of robots. Agrees with the assertion that the automation in the plastics industry is already an obligation and thinks that "there is room for the sale of robots in the plastics industry, but is perhaps more anthropomorphic type robot""much more flexible and with greater possibilities in its implementation".
It states that there is always room for improvement of the robots and notes the versatility and flexibility as the two features in which Kuka is focusing for improvements.
