HKM stands for Hybrid Kinematic Manipulator. The name describes the combination of the advantages of serial and parallel kinematics; the robot is a hybrid. The design allows the lowest possible moving masses and the shortest cycle times over large circular work areas. The promise: the high-performance robot opens up completely new possibilities for robot-assisted picking processes – especially when several picking and placement positions cover a large work area, as is typical in intralogistics warehouses and distribution centers.

Fredrik Malmgren, CEO of Cognibotics, explains, "While a human can keep up a pace of 300–500 pick and place cycles per hour, the HKM 1800 achieves over 2,000 cycles per hour with the ability to reach much further than is reasonable for a human."

The pick and place robot is therefore four times faster than a human and can sort complex goods such as fruit, vegetables or flexible items in cartons. Compared to conventional SCARA, Delta and 6-axis robots, the HKM1800 is optimized for pick and place applications. The HKM1800 has a maximum payload of 7.5 kg, a reach of 1,800 mm and covers a work envelope of ten square meters. The robot's controller comes from KEBA in Austria. The Linz-based company supplied its KeMotion solution based on the Kemro X automation platform.

The robot arm weighs only about 25 kilograms, which means it consumes a minimum amount of energy when moving. This allows it to accelerate and decelerate quickly without significant energy loss or heat generation. This results in lower energy costs and simplifies installation procedures.

Klas Nilsson founded Cognibotics in 2013 with the aim of developing advanced robotic technology and state-of-the-art industrial robots for material processing and material handling applications. Today the company has more than 40 employees. Fifteen of them come directly from a scientific background, while many others have decades of practical experience in industrial automation and industrial robotics. "We have never been a typical startup. If you add up the robotics experience of all our colleagues, we can easily reach 100 years," says Malmgren.