Kawasaki Robotics
50th Anniversary
Designing a future where humans and robots coexist.
Kawasaki Robotics has marked 50 years since its establishment. Together with its customers, Kawasaki has been developing technologies and gaining experiences along the way. Taking from this knowledge, Kawasaki will give back to society and aspire to become a fully integrated robot manufacturer that will design a bright, new future promising a world where humans and robots can coexist side by side.
Yasuhiko
Hashimoto
Company
President’s
Message
We continue on in our quest to create robots that help people realize their dreams and solve problems in society.
Director, Managing Executive Officer,
President of Precision Machinery & Robot Company,
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Yasuhiko Hashimoto
50 years history
HISTORY
The world's first industrial robot was born out of an encounter between inventor George Devol and entrepreneur Joseph Engelberger in the United States in 1956. Kawasaki brought the Unimate robot, whose name means “working mate with universal capability”, into Japan and began domestic manufacturing. This would spark the beginning of Japan's industrial robot history.
Video Archive
VIDEOS
The video tour exhibiting a lineup of Kawasaki Robots assisting the development of society, from the Kawasaki-Unimate 2000,
the first industrial robot manufactured domestically in Japan, to the latest humanoid robot.
Completion of Japan's first domestically manufactured industrial robot,
the “Kawasaki-Unimate 2000”
In 1969, the first “Kawasaki-Unimate 2000” robot, Japan's first ever domestically manufactured industrial robot, rolled off the production line at Kawasaki's Akashi Works. It was a period of rapid economic growth in Japan and news of a robot that could provide relief for labor shortage evoked a very positive response from society. In its earliest years, this robot was implemented mainly in the automobile industry. This is where the history of industrial robots in Japan began.
Launching of the small electrically-driven robot, the “PUMA”
Kawasaki's first small electrically-driven robot, the “PUMA”, was launched in 1981. The 1980s saw traditional hydraulic-powered robots being replaced with electrically-driven robots. The PUMA was programmed using VAL (Variable Assembly Language) and extended the range of applications to include tasks such as handling, assembly, painting, inspection, and palletizing.