LBR iiwa
About
About LBR iiwa
LBR iiwa is KUKA's seven-axis sensitive lightweight robot for human-robot collaboration and force-controlled automation. Joint torque sensing lets the arm detect contact and support compliant insertion, handling, assembly and testing tasks.
The extra axis provides flexible positioning around fixtures and people, while different payload variants address distinct work envelopes. Safe collaborative use depends on the tool, workpiece, programmed limits and cell-level risk assessment; sensitivity alone does not make every application unguarded.
Capabilities
Source-backed capabilities
- Force-controlled manipulation
Claimed - KUKA presents LBR iiwa for delicate collaborative assembly, force-controlled component installation and handling alongside human operators.
Source - Robotic assembly
Claimed - KUKA presents LBR iiwa for delicate collaborative assembly, force-controlled component installation and handling alongside human operators.
Source - Material handling
Claimed - KUKA presents LBR iiwa for delicate collaborative assembly, force-controlled component installation and handling alongside human operators.
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Observed use
Exact-product configurations are shown without inferring supply, purchase, customer status, standard fit, deployment or partnership.
- Cognex In-Sight 2000
Operational - Mounted - Physical - KUKA's Semi Mobility Solution mounted an In-Sight 2000 sensor on its LBR iiwa arm for wafer-box gripping alignment.
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Research
- Coupled Routing and Configuration Optimization for Multi-Viewpoint Robotic Inspection
2026-06-17 - Research Publication - We present a unified framework that turns a set of 6-DoF inspection viewpoints into a time-optimal, collision-free route for a 9-DoF robotic system. Unlike modular pipelines that fix a single inverse-kinematics (IK) configuration per viewpoint, build an all-pairs travel-time map, and then route, our method jointly optimizes the visiting order and the per-viewpoint configuration in a single global search. The three-di
Source - PhyRoGen: Synthetic Generation of Physical Robot Manipulation Puzzles Using Procedural Content Generation
2026-06-04 - Research Publication - Robot manipulation of physical puzzles is important for automatic assembly and disassembly tasks. However, to enable robots to solve physical puzzles, manipulation skills need to be learned, which requires large training datasets, the generation of which is often time consuming and tedious. To overcome this problem, we propose the Physical Robot Manipulation Puzzle Generation framework (PhyRoGen), which leverages pro
Source - Safe Obstacle-Free Guidance of Space Manipulators in Debris Removal Missions via Deep Reinforcement Learning
2025-10-08 - Research Publication - The objective of this study is to develop a model-free workspace trajectory planner for space manipulators using a Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (TD3) agent to enable safe and reliable debris capture. A local control strategy with singularity avoidance and manipulability enhancement is employed to ensure stable execution. The manipulator must simultaneously track a capture point on a non-cooperative
Source - Diffusion-Based Impedance Learning for Contact-Rich Manipulation Tasks
2025-09-24 - Research Publication - The authors present Diffusion-Based Impedance Learning, a framework that bridges these paradigms by combining generative modeling with energy-consistent impedance control.
Source - Visio-Verbal Teleimpedance Interface: Enabling Semi-Autonomous Control of Physical Interaction via Eye Tracking and Speech
2025-08-27 - Research Publication - The paper presents a visio-verbal teleimpedance interface for commanding 3D stiffness ellipsoids to the remote robot with a combination of the operator's gaze and verbal interaction.
Source - Riemannian Time Warping: Multiple Sequence Alignment in Curved Spaces
2025-06-02 - Research Publication - Given its importance for numerous applications in robotics and beyond, the authors introduce Riemannian Time Warping (RTW).
Source - Adaptive Collision Sensitivity for Efficient and Safe Human-Robot Collaboration
2024-09-30 - Research Publication - Here the authors present a framework that decides whether the robot should interrupt or continue its motion based on estimated collision force computed individually for different parts of the robot body and dynamically on the fly, based on the effective mass of each robot link and the link velocity.
Source - Model Predictive Trajectory Optimization With Dynamically Changing Waypoints for Serial Manipulators
2024-02-07 - Research Publication - This paper presents a novel waypoint model predictive control (wMPC) concept for online replanning tasks.
Source - BoundMPC: Cartesian path following with error bounds based on model predictive control in the joint space
2024-01-10 - Research Publication - This work introduces the BoundMPC strategy, an innovative online model-predictive path-following approach for robot manipulators.
Source - Bayes Net based highbrid Monte Carlo Optimization for Redundant Manipulator
2023-12-14 - Research Publication - This paper proposes a Bayes Net based Monte Carlo optimization for motion planning (BN-MCO).
Source - Task-Parameterized Imitation Learning with Time-Sensitive Constraints
2023-12-06 - Research Publication - To address this problem, the authors propose a novel constrained formulation of the Expectation Maximization algorithm for learning Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) on Riemannian Manifolds.
Source - LBR-Stack: ROS 2 and Python Integration of KUKA FRI for Med and IIWA Robots
2023-11-21 - Research Publication - LBR-Stack packages simplify and extend KUKA's Fast Robot Interface for ROS 2 and Python applications with hard real-time requirements.
Source - Fast Kinodynamic Planning on the Constraint Manifold with Deep Neural Networks
2023-01-11 - Research Publication - This paper introduces a novel learning-to-plan framework that exploits the concept of constraint manifold, including dynamics, and neural planning methods.
Source - A C++ Implementation of a Cartesian Impedance Controller for Robotic Manipulators
2022-12-21 - Research Publication - The study proposes a C++ implementation of compliance control valid for any torque-commanded robotic manipulator.
Source - Machine Learning-based Framework for Optimally Solving the Analytical Inverse Kinematics for Redundant Manipulators
2022-11-08 - Research Publication - The study a real-time framework to compute the analytical inverse kinematics of a redundant robot is presented.
Source - Singularity Avoidance with Application to Online Trajectory Optimization for Serial Manipulators
2022-11-04 - Research Publication - This work proposes a novel singularity avoidance approach for real-time trajectory optimization based on known singular configurations.
Source - A Combined Inverse Kinematics Algorithm Using FABRIK with Optimization
2022-09-06 - Research Publication - The study a novel inverse kinematics algorithm that combines FABRIK and the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm is presented, in which the joint angles deduced by FABRIK will be taken as the initial seed of the SQP algorithm to avoid getting stuck in local minima.
Source - Robot-Assisted Drilling on Curved Surfaces with Haptic Guidance under Adaptive Admittance Control
2022-07-28 - Research Publication - The study an adaptive admittance controller with 6 degrees of freedom is developed and deployed on a KUKA LBR iiwa 7 cobot such that the operator is able to manipulate a drill mounted on the robot with one hand comfortably and open holes on a curved surface with haptic guidance of the cobot and visual guidance provided through an AR interface.
Source - Effect of Active and Passive Protective Soft Skins on Collision Forces in Human-robot Collaboration
2022-03-18 - Research Publication - In addition, the authors isolate the effects of the passive padding and the active contribution of the sensor to robot reaction.
Source - Adaptive Gaussian Process based Stochastic Trajectory Optimization for Motion Planning
2021-12-30 - Research Publication - The authors propose a new formulation of optimal motion planning (OMP) algorithm for robots operating in a hazardous environment, called adaptive Gaussian-process based stochastic trajectory optimization (AGP-STO).
Source - alishbaimran/Multi-Modal-Manipulation
2021-09-16 - Research Publication - We use self-supervision to learn a compact and multimodal representation of our sensory inputs, which can then be used to improve the sample efficiency of our policy learning. We train a policy in PyBullet (on the a Kuka LBR iiwa robot arm) using PPO for peg-in-hole tasks.
Source - A Suitable Hierarchical Framework with Arbitrary Task Dimensions under Unilateral Constraints for physical Human Robot Interaction
2021-09-10 - Research Publication - In the last years, several hierarchical frameworks have been proposed to deal with highly-redundant robotic systems.
Source - Incrementally Stochastic and Accelerated Gradient Information mixed Optimization for Manipulator Motion Planning
2021-08-21 - Research Publication - iSAGO combines stochastic and accelerated gradient optimization and benchmarks narrow-workspace motion planning on an AUBO i5 storage-shelf setup.
Source - Spatial Attention Point Network for Deep-learning-based Robust Autonomous Robot Motion Generation
2021-03-02 - Research Publication - The study proposes a method robust to changes in object position by automatically extracting spatial attention points in the image for the robot task and generating motions on the basis of their positions.
Source - 3D Vision-guided Pick-and-Place Using Kuka LBR iiwa Robot
2021-02-21 - Research Publication - The paper develops a 3D vision-guided control system for pick-and-place tasks using a robot arm and a 3D camera.
Source - 3D Collision-Force-Map for Safe Human-Robot Collaboration
2020-09-02 - Research Publication - Second, the authors present a data-driven model, 3D Collision-Force-Map, predicting impact forces from distance, height, and velocity and demonstrate that it can be trained on a limited number of data points.
Source - Towards Collaborative Drilling with a Cobot Using Admittance Controller
2020-07-28 - Research Publication - In this regard, physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) aims to develop natural communication between the partners to bring speed, flexibility, and ergonomics to the execution of complex manufacturing tasks.
Source - Globally Optimal Solution to Inverse Kinematics of 7DOF Serial Manipulator
2020-07-24 - Research Publication - The authors present a global solution to the optimal IK problem for a general serial 7DOF manipulator with revolute joints and a quadratic polynomial objective function.
Source - Real-time collision-detection paper evaluates self-collision checking on Meca500
2020-07-23 - Research Publication - Collision detection and collision avoidance are essential components in these systems for safe human-robot interactions.
Source - Robot Object Retrieval with Contextual Natural Language Queries
2020-06-23 - Research Publication - The authors develop a model to retrieve objects based on descriptions of their usage.
Source - Sim2Real Transfer for Reinforcement Learning without Dynamics Randomization
2020-02-19 - Research Publication - The study shows how to use the Operational Space Control framework (OSC) under joint and cartesian constraints for reinforcement learning in cartesian space.
Source - Safe physical HRI: Toward a unified treatment of speed and separation monitoring together with power and force limiting
2019-08-08 - Research Publication - The study combines speed-and-separation monitoring with power-and-force limiting in one collaborative-robot application and evaluates transitions between the two safety regimes.
Source - NariddhKhean/Robotic_Arm_DQN
2019-06-05 - Research Publication - A training simulation for the 'Kuka LBR iiwa' robotic arm using a deep Q-network.
Source - Transfer Learning for Unseen Robot Detection and Joint Estimation on a Multi-Objective Convolutional Neural Network
2018-05-30 - Research Publication - The study extends their method to work with a new robot arm - Kuka LBR iiwa, which has a significantly different appearance and an additional joint.
Source - SegICP-DSR: Dense Semantic Scene Reconstruction and Registration
2017-11-06 - Research Publication - To enable autonomous robotic manipulation in unstructured environments, the authors present SegICP-DSR, a real- time, dense, semantic scene reconstruction and pose estimation algorithm that achieves mm-level pose accuracy and standard deviation (7.9 mm, σ=7.6 mm and 1.7 deg, σ=0.7 deg) and suc- cessfully identified the object pose in 97% of test cases.
Source - KUKA Sunrise Toolbox: Interfacing Collaborative Robots with MATLAB
2017-09-05 - Research Publication - Collaborative robots are increasingly present in their lives.
Source - Automatic Construction of Real-World Datasets for 3D Object Localization using Two Cameras
2017-07-10 - Research Publication - This paper details a method to create large datasets for 3D object localization, with real world images, using an industrial robot to generate position labels.
Source - Learning local trajectories for high precision robotic tasks : application to KUKA LBR iiwa Cartesian positioning
2017-01-05 - Research Publication - To ease the development of robot learning in industry, two conditions need to be fulfilled.
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Resources
Media library
- LBR iiwa motion and workspace
image · KUKA
Source - LBR iiwa media-flange options
image · KUKA
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Official KUKA product documentation and exact technical media for the LBR iiwa collaborative robot family.
- LBR iiwa product and model reference
WEB · LBR iiwa family · KUKA
Source - LBR iiwa product brochure
PDF · LBR iiwa family · KUKA
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Timeline
- KUKA Robotics Corporation Debuts the LBR iiwa to North America at Automate 2015
2015-03-19 - Product Launch - KUKA Robotics introduced the LBR iiwa, a collaborative robot, at Automate 2015 in Chicago, booth 840. The LBR iiwa features a payload capacity of 7 kg and is designed for sensitive assembly tasks in various industries.
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