RoboMotion and SoTec demonstrate cloud robotics solution using Kuka Agilus

Industrial automation integrator RoboMotion and software company SoTec have demonstrated a robotics solution which enables users to control an industrial robot through their smartphones.

The two companies say they have developed an integrated solution which enables “robot control from the cloud”, and used the system to control an industrial robot made by Kuka.

The solution essentially eliminates the need to use a programmable logic controller, or PLC, which is basically a computer attached to robotics and automation hardware systems to program and control their movements. 

The PLC has been a fundamental building block of industrial automation for decades.

RoboMotion and SoTec say they would like to make the cloud “more accessible to a greater public”.

To achieve this, they have developed a robot application which can be controlled with a mobile device, such as a smartphone.

The application demonstrated featured the new KR 3 Agilus robot from Kuka.

The companies say the solution provides “robot control as a direct experience”.

Dr Andreas Wolf, CEO of RoboMotion, says: “Together with the company SoTec, we have developed a means of controlling the robot which does not involve a physical programmable logic controller, as usual, but rather works from the cloud.”

As a result, the installed KR 3 Agilus robot from Kuka can be controlled with the user’s own smartphone.

The application is used at trade fairs and events and is designed to demonstrate the advantages of the cloud.

Kuka adds that the company is working on “the fusion of IT and mechanical equipment”, but which it means software and hardware.

Industrial processes are being increasingly digitized, with production-relevant components becoming interconnected.

The cloud plays an important role in this, according to experts, with intelligent networking providing significant improvements in productivity, flexibility and efficiency.

Robots – like those already manufactured by Kuka – will play a key role in this development.