First KUKA youBots delivered to BRICS

At long last, the first KUKA youBot desktop mobile manipulators were delivered to the EU research project BRICS - Best Practice in Robotics. BRICS, although not involved in the development of KUKA youBot, was still instrumental for its coming about. From its very beginning in 2007 KUKA youBot was designed as a vehicle to promote education and research in mobile manipulation as a key technology for advanced robotics. When the financial crisis hit German industry in 2009,  KUKA Roboter decided to focus on its core business and put on hold some development activities including KUKA youBot. However, KUKA's strategic decision not to reduce overall investment in research and development even in times of economic recession and an order of 12 youBots placed at the beginning of 2010 by BRICS partner GPS Stuttgart finally led to a reanimation of the youBot development. While the product development and the preparation of the a small series of 50 KUKA youBots is still going on, the youBot models for BRICS were manufactured manually to meet the project’s time-line and needs. The KUKA youBots delivered to BRICS will shortly travel to Malaga to participate in the first BRICS Research Camp on mobile manipulation (October 24-29, 2010).