KUKA

A German industrial-robot maker, one of the “Big Four,” owned by China's Midea Group since 2017.

KUKA was founded in 1898 by Johann Josef Keller and Jakob Knappich in Augsburg, Germany — the name KUKA is an abbreviation of the company's early German name — and it is still headquartered in Augsburg today. Grouped with FANUC, ABB, and Yaskawa as one of the “Big Four” of industrial robotics, it mainly builds industrial robot arms for uses such as automotive welding, along with logistics and medical automation. In 2016, China's Midea Group launched a tender offer worth about €4.5 billion; the deal closed in January 2017 with Midea holding about 94.55%, and Midea bought out the remaining shares in 2022, delisting the company, which in China is often called “Midea KUKA.” In embodied-AI research, its 7-axis collaborative arm, the LBR iiwa, is a common sight — every joint carries a torque sensor, and it is often used for force control and contact-rich manipulation experiments.

ExampleDexterous-grasping research such as DextrAH-G runs real-robot experiments using a KUKA arm paired with an Allegro dexterous hand.

Also called

Midea KUKA, KUKA AG

Related

Big Four of Industrial Robotics · KUKA LBR iiwa · Industrial Robot · FANUC · ABB Robotics · Joint Torque Sensor

Sources

Wikipedia: KUKA
KUKA: LBR iiwa

As of

2025