For the first time, Swisslog and KUKA will exhibit jointly at Hannover Messe 2015, between 13 and 17 April.

Here they will together showcase the first results of their recent collaboration, as one Automation Powerhouse.

One of the highlights of the nearly 1 000 m² booth is a combined human-robot workstation for order fulfillment picking or for the automated supply of industrial assembly line components. This  'Industry 4.0' technology concept is based on the emerging need for humans and robots to interact and collaborate in intralogistics applications.

One of the key exhibits is a newly developed human-robot workstation named Automated Item Pick. It is based on KUKA’s LBR iiwa, the world’s first production-ready collaborative lightweight robot, which turns Swisslog’s fully automated CarryPick and AutoStore goods-to-person picking solutions into interactive human-robot workstations. One distinctive feature is that the order bins at the pick station are serviced by a human and the robot’s grippers at the same time, without the need for a barrier or fence between man and machine. Using imaging technologies and LBR iiwa’s advanced joint torque sensors, Swisslog and KUKA have created a forward-thinking concept that is perfectly suited for industrial applications.

Swisslog’s Automated Item Pick workstation is an intelligent enhancement of the Click&Pick solution portfolio; a modular warehouse logistics concept that offers flexible scalability as well as high throughput, for storing and picking light goods.

Focus on Industry 4.0
“For Swisslog, Automated Item Pick is an important milestone on our journey into a cyber-physical future – one that combines traditional automation technologies with the technical achievements of the IT world,” says Peter Hettich, CEO at Swisslog. “As part of our Industry 4.0 concept, we aim to increase the availability of our systems and eliminate potential error sources from intralogistics processes early on.”

Visit Swisslog at Hannover Messe in Hall 17, Booth G04