KUKA moves robot vision into the controller with iiQKA.AI Vision, no external PC

KUKA has launched iiQKA.AI Vision, machine-vision software that detects, classifies and locates parts in 2D images or 3D point clouds and computes grasp points on the robot controller itself, the Augsburg robot maker says on the product page it published with the launch, which trade press reported from Oct 20.

Processing runs on the KUKA AI Extension Platform, a computing unit inside the controller that KUKA describes as based on NVIDIA technology; Metrology News and Korea's Hellot, citing the launch material, name the module as NVIDIA Jetson Orin.

KUKA says the design removes the external industrial PC and cuts the interfaces between camera and robot, and that setup runs through drag-and-drop templates and guided workflows in its iiQWorks engineering suite for bin picking, assembly, quality inspection and depalletising, with cameras supplied by KUKA.

No price, release date by region or accuracy figure was given. MEKAWIRE context: it is the second move this month to put AI compute next to the machine rather than in a separate PC, after Omron agreed to buy industrial-PC maker OnLogic for $675 million on Oct 13, and it follows Qualcomm's purchase of MoveIt developer PickNik; see the KUKA profile and our Germany and Europe robotics market explainer.