JAKA Robotics (节卡机器人), a Chinese cobot developer, today celebrated its 9th anniversary, marking the startup’s three-step trajectory from a minor startup to a global leader in cobot and industrial robot technologies and applications.
Founded in July 2014, Shanghai-headquartered JAKA set up shop by focusing on robotic system integration. It secured its first customers from 2014 to 2017 in dairy product and chemical fiber industries, assisting customers with deployment of automated production lines.
During this period, JAKA accumulated experience over the course of tapping into clients’ application scenarios.
This is exactly when the firm obtained first insights into the vast opportunities that were to arise in the cobot space.
Starting in 2016, JAKA began to explore the development of lightweight industrial robots. After carrying out technical validation, the firm chose to bet on cobot as its major business scope going forward.
Following this decision, it carried out a series of research over an extended period on the mechanism, servo system, controller, software algorithms, interaction and safety features catering to cobots.
The outgrowth of this effort was the launch in 2017 of JAKA’s first-ever cobot series named JAKA Zu™, which garnered a first batch of orders the following year.
From 2018 onward, JAKA built on its internal R&D upgrades and external customer feedback to continue optimizing its products and technologies.
In terms of product line, JAKA has expanded from JAKA Zu cobots to incorporate more differentiated cobots, such as the Zu S, All-in-One, MiniCobo and Pro series.
To date, JAKA’s six product series have been utilized in automotive, electronics, precision manufacturing, education and new retail industries.
They are often found in such highly intricate and repetitive use cases as electronic packaging, shaft hole assembly, laser welding, find grinding, latte art.
It partners with established firms such as Toyota, CRRC Corporation, Xingyu Co. Ltd, Luxshare, Dongshan Precision Manufacturing, Schneider Electric and Flex, in a bid to build demonstration business cases that can be replicated on a wider scale.
JAKA has shipped its products to countries and regions in Asia, Europe and the Americas. It has offices in Japan, Germany, Malaysia and other overseas markets, supplying clients with localized services.
The company recently made headlines by choosing to list on the STAR market of Shanghai Stock Exchange. JAKA indicates in the prospectus that it has some 6% of the world’s cobot market.
