Kuka and VW expand cooperation
Robot application for autonomous refueling
The Augsburg-based robotics specialist Kuka and Volkswagen are intensifying their cooperation. Together, the two companies will develop robot-based service concepts for the car of the future.
Volkswagen is working intensively on shaping the mobility of tomorrow, explains CEO Matthias Müller. And this is not just about the vehicle, but also about service. According to Müller, the major upheavals caused by autonomous driving and electromobility will also change the demands on the car manufacturer's service offering.
In order to meet them, Volkswagen is intensifying its existing cooperation with Kuka. In a joint research project, innovative service concepts are to be designed and implemented for electrically powered and autonomously driving cars. Service robots form the basis for this. Just as HRC robots (human-robot collaboration) assist humans and relieve them of monotonous or physically demanding work processes, or service robots can provide humans with certain services largely autonomously, robots are also to be used for service tasks on cars.
Autonomous refueling joins autonomous driving
The research cooperation that has now been agreed is not starting from scratch, but is based on the existing HRC project 'e-smart Connect'. The name refers to the development of a user-friendly charging station for VW electric vehicles. To charge the high-voltage cell, the driver does not have to operate the charging station manually, but has to park their vehicle in a marked parking space. The charging cable is plugged in fully automatically by a Kuka robot. In short: in this project, autonomous driving is extended to include autonomous "refueling".
This is the direction in which Kuka and VW now want to take their research and development work. A contract to this effect was recently signed by Matthias Müller, Ulrich Eichhorn (Head of VW Group Research and Development) and Till Reuter, CEO of Kuka AG.
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