The KUKA KR 1000 L750 'Titan' as it is known, is the first in the UK and the only KUKA Titan model used for research in the UK's High Value Manufacturing Catapult, a consortium of six manufacturing and process research centres backed by UK government.

The robotic arm is a derivative of the KUKA KR 1000 Titan, which has a payload of 1000kg. The L750 has a reduced payload of 750kg, but has an extended arm, allowing it to have a greater reach for aerospace assembly operations.

The IMG teams develop new ways of automatically assembling complex products to help partners in the aerospace and other high-value industries improve their global competitiveness.

"The benefits of the KUKA Titan mean that it can not only be put to use handling large loads or moving large jigs for assembly, but IMG can use it for research including drilling and machining operations," said Ben Morgan, Head of IMG.

"We will be coupling the robotic arm with research in large volume metrology and advanced control algorithms to improve the 'off the shelf' accuracy for these applications."

The robot will make up a key piece of manufacturing and assembly equipment in the AMRC's new Factory 2050, a £43 million development which will be the world's first fully reconfigurable assembly and component manufacturing facility for collaborative research.