Kuka, as partner to Kine Robot Solutions and Innova Adult Education Centre helped create a high-tech laser cell, says Katrin Stuber

Robots are increasingly becoming a part of life. They can be found almost everywhere and are no longer subject to as much trepidation as they were before. There are today expected to complement efficiency by enhancing the capabilities. The fact that Kuka robots can work individually, with positioning tables or as a team, enabling extremely large parts to be processed should come as an example. Be it laser welding, laser cutting or laser hybrid welding, all processes are camera-monitored.

One of the most advanced and flexible laser welding cells in Europe can be found at Innova in Laitila (Finland). KUKA Roboter GmbH, its system partner Kine Robot Solutions, and the Innova Adult Education Center pooled their experience and know-how to create the high-tech laser cell "Innova Lasepro".

Innova was founded in 1998 as an institute of further education, and is run by the Municipality of Rauma/Laitila, Finland. Its wide-ranging seminar program is aimed at working adults who wish to gain further qualifications. Around 650 students study at the Rauma and Laitila sites. Approximately 50 per cent are sent by their employers. Courses are offered in subjects such as kitchen management, social welfare and health care, construction, and automation and metal engineering. This last subject is taught at the Laitila site. The engineering students here can benefit from state-of-the-art technology, for example in the field of laser welding.

"We see ourselves as an institute of further education," explains Anu Vuorio, Project Assistant for Laser Technology. "Our robotic welding cell, for example, is a project that was partly financed with EU subsidies, because it is innovative and probably unique within Europe." Many companies have the processing of their components tested on this system. In this way, Innova receives research assignments from a wide range of industries - especially the naval construction industry. " In this case, the components are often very large and bulky," explains Juho Isotalus, Project Manager for Laser Technology. "They wouldn't even fit on any other system."

But what is so new, unique and different about this cell? "Its versatility," explains Jyrki Vilo from Kine Robot Solutions. It can be used for laser welding, laser cutting and laser hybrid welding.

Sophisticated technology

A Kuka KR30HA robot is mounted upside down on a KUKA linear unit, giving it a travel of ten meters. Both the linear unit and the robot are special designs that have been optimised by Kuka for maximum accuracy.

The KR30HA - HA stands for "High Accuracy" - is designed for high-precision tasks and is particularly suitable for laser applications or for measuring components. "Linear axes normally bend under the weight of the robot," explains Peter Gmeiner, Key Technology Manager at Kuka Roboter, "and that affects the accuracy of the weld seam." The longer the axis, the greater the deviation. Not so with this special design. The robot and linear unit achieve an accuracy of plus or minus 0.20 mm. "That is negligibly small," says Juho Isotalus, who works every day with the Innova Lasepro cell.

KUKA robots as team partners

One Kuka robot - of type KR210 - is responsible for handling the components and it is able to work together with the KR30HA as a team. This is done using a technology called KUKA RoboTeam, which enables robots to cooperate in real time on the basis of data exchange. Inflexible control blocks are consciously avoided here; instead, intelligently networked autonomous standard controllers are used, which can be freely combined to form an optimal cooperating group of robots for any manufacturing concept. The controllers of the individual robots can be grouped in any configuration. The Kuka handling robot deftly manipulates the workpiece, while the welding is expertly carried out by its "colleague" suspended upside down from the ceiling. In this way, parts can be successfully welded or cut in even the most inaccessible places.

Furthermore, a Kuka DKP 2000 positioning table makes it possible to process components with diameters of up to two-and-a-half metres and weights of up to two tonnes. That on its own is impressive enough - though we cannot quite believe that components of that size could actually get into the cell. They certainly wouldn't fit through the door.

Juho Isotalus reveals the secret by simply pressing a button. The wall and ceiling of the cell move automatically away to the side. The system now stands in a spacious workshop. A crane heaves a steel tube onto the positioning table. Then the wall closes again. The welding process can begin, and can be observed from the outside on monitors, thanks to the two cameras mounted in the cell. The KR30HA changes its tools entirely unaided. The tool changer rides together with the robot on the linear unit. A camera system is integrated into the process to allow monitoring of the weld seams.

The system is equipped with a number of technology packages: Kuka.LaserTec and Kuka.LaserhybridTec. In addition to a laser system from Apricon with an integrated Trumpf laser, the equipment also includes welding heads from Cloos and Precitec, as well as a 3D cutting head from Precitec. The entire system, consisting of robots, two-axis positioner, linear unit, laser and periphery, is controlled and coordinated by a single Kuka KRC2 controller. Innova's cooperation with Kuka Roboter and Kine Robot Solutions is already in its third year. "We began planning the project in the beginning of 2005," Anu Vuorio recalls, "device assembly started in October 2005 and the system was implemented in February 2006."

Kuka Roboter and Kine Robot Solutions proved to be ideal partners.

"Kuka Roboter is well-known for its high quality and innovative technologies," says Juho Isotalus. "Kine Robot Solutions is well-known for its excellent system know-how in the area of laser technology. We liked this combination. It gives us the necessary flexibility."