30,642 visitors attended AUTOMATICA 2010, the International Trade Fair for Automation and Mechatronics, of which 32.2 percent of all visitors were from abroad, 113 countries in total.

Automatica is considered the leading international trade fair for the automation industry. 708 exhibitors from 42 countries participated in AUTOMATICA in 2010. The fair occupied 44,000 m of space in four full halls.

It was encouraging to see so many automation suppliers and system integrators demonstrating their wares. This showed a big increase in Automation acceptance worldwide and a large range of new technologies being showcased making simple automation applications easy and reliable.

The Impressive front of the KUKA Robotics stand

The KUKA stand and the new control and new robot

One of the biggest features for us was the KUKA stand. KUKA released their new robot controller the KRC4 and a new range of robots the Quantec series.

KR C4 – the control system of the future. More powerful, safer, more flexible, and above all more intelligent. The revolutionary concept of the KR C4 provides a firm foundation for the automation of tomorrow. It reduces costs in automation for integration, maintenance and servicing. The long-term efficiency and flexibility of the systems are increased at the same time. For this reason, KUKA has developed a new ground-breaking, clearly-structured system architecture that concentrates on open and powerful data standards. In this architecture, all integrated controllers – from RobotControl, MotionControl and LogicControl to ProcessControl and SafetyControl – have a joint database and infrastructure which they use and share intelligently.

KUKA Robotics line-up

The simplest way of controlling robots. Touch screen. Graphics support. Flexible interaction. The more powerful the capabilities of the robots become, the more intuitive user interfaces for operator control of the robots are pushed into the foreground. The new KUKA smartPAD brilliantly demonstrates, on a large, high-resolution, antireflection touch screen, how robots can be operated intuitively. Operations are presented to the user in a transparent manner by means of intelligent, interactive dialogs. The user always has at his disposal precisely the operator control elements that he actually needs at any given moment. With the aim of focusing attention on what is important, so that users can work more intuitively and thus more easily, quickly and efficiently.

KUKA Robotics light show with water and lasers

QUANTEC. Maximum Dynamism and Performance

Up to 160 kg lighter, with 25% less volume. With unchanged reach and payload. The robots of the QUANTEC series are the most compact in their class – with the highest power density. They reduce the space requirements and open up whole new fields of potential applications in production – even in confined spaces. Lighter parts achieve greater dynamic performance and even shorter cycle times, as well as being stiffer than before. The robot is thus more precise and achieves greater path accuracy. The advanced design of the QUANTEC series thus allows significantly more compact cell concepts in the high payload range. It offers reduced disruptive contours and has a more slender wrist for precision work. The intelligent reduction of assemblies and of the moving mass enable this robot family to set new standards in technically and economically critical areas: precision, performance, energy efficiency and availability

For more information about the range of KUKA Robots, software and general automation, please visit www.automation-becomes-easy.com or call Stuart Simmons on 0423 799 827.

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