Danish company Kassow Robots recently expanded its product portfolio with the addition of the KR1018 cobot, which weighs just 34 kilogrammes, yet can handle payloads of up to 18 kilogrammes.
The 7-axis cobot offers an application reach of up to 1000 mm. First introduced to the market in 2018, Kassow Robots’ product family now comprises five 7-axis cobots that handle payloads of up to 18 kilogrammes and offer a range of up to 1.8 metres – and all that with a speed of up to 225 degrees per second.
Each of the five cobots can be used in virtually endless industrial applications involving human-robot collaboration – thanks in part to the 7th axis that increases cobot dexterity and allows it to reach around corners.
“Compact, very strong – but lightweight! This was the goal that Kristian Kassow had in mind when he designed his cobots for flexible jobs at industrial companies, and he brought this design to life with the help of his team,” says Dieter Pletscher, the Head of Sales at Kassow Robots. “Kristian sketched out the five models in the business plan and all are now being sold in the market. All five models offer a unique combination of strength and speed. They are also easy to operate and programme.”
Kristian Kassow, Kassow Robots CEO, was one of the founders of Universal Robots.
Small and medium-sized enterprises will profit tremendously by introducing or expanding lightweight robot solutions in their operations. “Everybody has gotten to know the intuitive and user friendly technology of tablet computers in their private lives,” Pletscher says. “This is why small and medium-sized enterprises that have had nothing to do with robotics in the past will be able to easily enter the world of programming our cobots.”
It is envisaged that 7 axis cobots will find a role in manufacturing carrying optical sensors for measurement tasks since the addition of the seventh axis provides the additional dexterity required by many inspection applications – in a similar way to how the 7 axis manual portable arm CMM dominate laser scanning applications. The Kassow KR1018 cobot weighs just 34kg with an easy plug-in portable electrical cabinet and teach pendant allowing the robot to be easily relocated and redeployed to different areas and applications.
Intelligent End-of-Arm Interface
All Kassow cobots have three ports with various I/Os and power supply signals with two of the ports for digital or analogue input/output. The third port enables a direct Data / Ethernet connection with the controller allowing industrial customers to connect camera or Modbus TCP directly to the robot via the intelligent end-of-arm tool interface. Cables consequently do not have to be led along the outside of the robot arm.
Kassow cobots also feature a free drive button at the end-of-arm tool which allow the robot to be moved freely to its desired position without a control panel, with individual positions saved automatically opening up a new realm of possibilities when programming waypoints.
