KUKA Robotics Sponsors Robocup 2007 Atlanta

Company to Exhibit Cutting-Edge, Lightweight Robot at International Robotics Competition

Atlanta— June 29, 2007 – KUKA Robotics Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of industrial robots, today announced that it is sponsoring RoboCup 2007 Atlanta, the world’s most renowned research competition among custom-built robots and their designers to be held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia from July 3-8, 2007.  In addition, the company will demonstrate its industry-changing KUKA Lightweight Robot (LWR) during the finals portion of the event on July 7 and 8.

‘‘KUKA is dedicated to advancing the research and application of robotics,’‘ said Stu Shepherd, president of KUKA Robotics Corporation. ‘‘Sponsoring the RoboCup competition and showcasing our latest technology advancements provides our company the opportunity to foster a sense of wonder and support a spirit of creativity among those who will shape the future of robotics innovation.’‘

KUKA will demonstrate the KUKA LWR robot on July 7-8 in the Campus Recreation Center at Georgia Tech. This robot is hailed as the intermediary and critical step in the transition from an industry dominated by the industrial-focused robots that build cars to more service-oriented robots, based upon the evolution of technology that now enables a robot to ‘‘sense’‘ its human co-workers and react cautiously, creating a safe human-robot work environment. Independent analysts report that, by 2025, the service robotics segment of this industry is forecasted to exponentially grow from $5 billion to $50 billion, with initial concentration within the food processing, logistics, surgical and elder care specialties for big companies. Service robotics will also be a growth market for small and medium enterprises in the industrial segment. 

RoboCup 2007 Atlanta will include approximately 218 senior robotic teams, and 140 junior teams from over 30 countries. These international teams will participate in soccer games and search-and-rescue missions, testing the limits in artificial intelligence and robotics research. The overall mission of the RoboCup research and education initiative is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated. The international project has a founding goal of developing a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human World Cup champion team by the year 2050.

About KUKA
KUKA Robotics Corporation, with its parent company KUKA Roboter GmbH, Augsburg, Germany, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of industrial robots, with an annual production volume approaching 10,000 units, and an installed base of over 80,000 units.  The company’s 5 and 6 axis robots range from 3kg to 1000kg payloads, and 635mm to 3700mm reach, all controlled from a common PC based controller platform. KUKA robots are utilized in a diverse range of industries including the appliance, automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, logistics, food, pharmaceutical, medical, foundry and plastics industries and in multiple applications including material handling, machine loading, assembly, packaging, palletizing, welding, bending, joining, and surface finishing. For more information contact KUKA Robotics at 866-873-5852 or visit their website at www.kukarobotics.com.

About the RoboCup
RoboCup is an international research and education initiative. Its goal is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can be examined and integrated. The concept of soccer-playing robots was first introduced in 1993. Following a two-year feasibility study, in August 1995, an announcement was made on the introduction of the first international conferences and soccer games. In July 1997, the first official conference and games were held in Nagoya, Japan. Followed by Paris, Stockholm, Melbourne, Seattle, Fukuoka/Busan, Padua, Lisbon, Osaka and Bremen, the annual events attracted many participants and spectators. This year, the 11th anniversary of RoboCup, the competition and symposium is being held in Atlanta, Georgia. For more details about this year's RoboCup including participants and updated schedule, visit http://www.robocup-us.org/.