Innovation in real-time robot control

The challenge

In order to further expand its leading role in the field of automation, KUKA has launched the development of a new Linux-based robot controller. The change from the previous real-time operating system VxWorks was necessary as it could no longer be updated, threatening compatibility with future hardware and new technologies. This technology change entails extensive changes that affect the system architecture, concept and implementation of real-time robot control. The challenge is to implement this modernization for a code base that has grown continuously over decades.

KUKA AG

KUKA is a leading international automation group with around 15,000 employees and a tur-nover of around 4 billion euros. The company is headquartered in Augsburg and, as the world’s leading provider of intelligent automation solutions, offers its customers everything from a single source.

How we helped

With two development teams from XITASO, we supported KUKA in converting its grown real-time robot controller to a modern Linux-based architecture. We helped transfer central control components to Linux and upgrade the software to 64-bit. An important step was the integration of gRPC, which enabled cross-platform use, including from web interfaces. Together with KUKA, we developed solutions for the virtualization of the controller, the provision of the software in flexible software packages and new hardware options. We also optimized the C++ code, which led to reduced hardware requirements and lower costs.

Technologies