KUKA LBR iiwa

KUKA's sensitive 7-axis collaborative robot arm, with a torque sensor built into every joint.

The LBR iiwa is a collaborative robot arm from Germany's KUKA. LBR stands for “lightweight robot,” and iiwa is short for “intelligent industrial work assistant”; the underlying technology traces back to lightweight-robot research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). It has 7 axes, each fitted with a joint torque sensor, which lets it sense external forces and immediately cut power and slow down if it contacts a person; it also supports impedance control and hand-guided teaching, where an operator physically moves the arm to program a motion. It comes in two models: the iiwa 7 R800, with a 7 kg payload and 800 mm reach, and the iiwa 14 R820, with a 14 kg payload and 820 mm reach. It's widely used in research on contact-rich manipulation, force control, and human-robot collaboration, and is considered a classic platform for that kind of work.

ExampleResearchers use the iiwa's Cartesian impedance mode to perform peg-in-hole assembly, letting the arm automatically nudge its position based on contact force as it inserts the peg.

Also called

iiwa, LBR iiwa 7 R800, LBR iiwa 14 R820

Related

Collaborative Robot · 7-DoF Robot Arm · Joint Torque Sensor · Impedance Control · KUKA · Contact-rich Manipulation

Sources

LBR iiwa | KUKA Global
KUKA LBR iiwa cobot review - Standard Bots