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15.03.2011

MOTIONLINE® cables to provide flexible and reliable solutions for KUKA's industrial robots

The new contract for 2011 continues the close cooperation and partnership between the two companies that saw the Nexans factory based in Nuremberg, Germany deliver over 180 kilometres of robotic cables to KUKA in 2010. A wide range of MOTIONLINE® power, control and bus cables will be used by KUKA in a variety of demanding torsion and chain cable applications to deliver high-performance and total reliability, even whilst being subjected to multi-axis twisting and flexing and high accelerations.

Typical applications for the MOTIONLINE® cables will include welding and assembly robots used across all stages of automotive production, as well as machine tending, processing, production line pick and place and palletizing applications.

Dedicated Motion Application Centre

In addition to the high-technology and innovation demonstrated by the MOTIONLINE® cables, a key element in winning the contract was Nexans' own dedicated Motion Application Centre (MAC), which is part of the Nexans Research Centre (NRC) in Nuremberg. This facility, unique in the industry, enables cables to be exposed to dynamic operating loads that simulate realistic, in-service conditions, thus ensuring that they offer the ideal combination of bending, tension and torsional strength and vibration resistance required for their intended application. This means that Nexans is able to provide clear proof to KUKA that a robotic cable will perform throughout its expected lifecycle as required by the relevant specification.

"Of all automation applications, robotics is especially demanding due to the need for 3D movement, resistance to torsional loads and high speeds and total reliability. So this latest major contract from KUKA, a world leading robot producer, is an important reference for the technical excellence of our MOTIONLINE® brand," says Giuseppe Di Lorenzo, Nexans Global Segment Manager & Commercial Director Automation. "In the coming year we are also looking forward to working together with KUKA to advance robotic cable technology to meet the challenges created by the latest developments in robot vision."

Source: Nexans