Jaka Robotics on the path to conquering new markets

Jaka Robotics, a world-renowned leader in collaborative robotics, continues to strengthen its leadership by driving growth within the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) segment. With production based in China and its European headquarters and spare parts warehouse located in Germany, the company is reinforcing its position as a provider of high-quality, turnkey solutions at accessible prices. This strategy is helping Jaka open markets traditionally less inclined to adopt collaborative robotics, such as the SME sector.
For many of these businesses, the main perceived barriers are high costs and the organizational complexities associated with introducing robotics into their operations. Jaka addresses these challenges through an ever-expanding network of partners, a comprehensive product range that includes affordable, entry-level cobots ideal for businesses taking their first steps into automation, and efficient technical support, both before and after the sale.
“This year allows us to call our business development a real success”, states Giacomo Mariotti Country Director of Jaka Italy. “In a market that’s generally stagnant, Jaka has grown by 20-25% in Italy, with a significant increase in training courses for integrators and service partners, who have gained even more expertise – all to the benefit of our customers. JAKA will soon expand the Italian team by an additional engineer with an in-depth knowledge of the JAKA brand. With this profound expertise significant contribution will be given to training and setup phases, as well as supporting customers, integrators, and specialists alike”.

Meeting market demands for greater motion
Jaka’s latest developments go beyond organizational structure and extend to the product itself, offering a fully turnkey package made up entirely of Jaka-branded components.
“When it comes to the product”, Mariotti continues, “the launch of the new Cabinet V3 controller for the international market expands support for communication protocols, now including Ether CAT. The V3 is fully compliant with the upcoming cybersecurity regulations, ahead of the 2027 deadline. The new cabinet also allows for interpolated external axes, addressing market demand for six-axis robots integrated with additional axes for a greater range of motion. Key application areas include grinding and welding, areas where components need to be rotated during processing. Even for such specific requirements, Jaka is ready with a turnkey solution that includes all Jaka-branded components within a single, integrated offering”.

From food to pharma to marine
Jaka’s success is built on its ability to meet customer needs with top-quality and competitively priced solutions. In just its first two years on the Italian market, the company has installed a 3-digit number of cobots, a result achieved through a business strategy founded on credibility and customer support. Today, a network of 30 partners, including system integrators and service providers, stands ready to respond to any request across a wide range of dynamic, fast-growing markets. Customers benefit from technical support that matches the highest industry standards, offered at competitive prices and with the flexibility that allows Jaka to continuously expand its operational scope.
In Italy, for example, Jaka recently entered the ice cream production sector, joining its already successful applications in Food & Beverage, the pharmaceutical industry, and a new project in the marine industry.  These cases demonstrate how JAKA’s products can be seamlessly integrated into very different production environments while adapting to the specific needs of each industry.

“Among Jaka’s latest innovations is the installation of several cobots in the pharmaceutical sector”, notes Mariotti, “a market where robots are rarely used due to cycle-time constraints. Thanks to our unique Mini Series – with cobot models carrying payloads of 1-2 kg, the only ones of their kind in the world – we’ve implemented an application integrated with packaging machines. The MiniCobos perform a pick-and-place operation, where the end-effector positions a dispenser onto a container and then tightens it. Key advantages include the compact size of the cobots, which allows them to operate efficiently in confined spaces, and their exceptional ease of use and programming”.
It’s worth noting that Jaka boasts a broad range of packaging applications, particularly within the Food & Beverage sector, including pick-and-place solutions for confectionery production and nutraceutical filling – topics that ItaliaImballaggio has covered extensively.

In packaging, compact six-axis cobots offer significant advantages, with recent applications extending even in less traditional areas such as labelling.

Versatile Solutions for New Challenges
Turning to the latest addition – the marine sector – system integrator FabCube has recently launched a new application designed specifically for hull maintenance during storage. The solution is scalable and easily adaptable to meet the needs of this and other industries.
“The mobile Jaka Pro 16 cobot, designed for autonomous navigation, can operate outdoors thanks to its IP68 certification”, explains Giacomo Mariotti. “With its wide reach, the cobot performs sanding, polishing, and cleaning operations on hulls, covering large surface areas. Autonomy and precision are ensured by a Keyence profiler, which scans the hull’s surface and provides millimetre-level feedback to balance pressure and sanding intensity, guaranteeing a perfectly uniform finish with controlled roughness across every section. The end-effector, a Mirka orbital rotating head, delivers highly accurate, millimetre-level work. The system will soon be integrated with a telescopic lift, allowing it to reach elevated surfaces such as those found on large ships – marking the next market step for this application. The operator’s role is to position and monitor the mobile cobot within the work area, while remaining free to focus on other tasks simultaneously”.

“The scale-up of our marine-sector application”, summarizes  Mariotti, “is paving the way for sanding and grinding solutions using polishing heads in the automotive industry, where surface-finishing operations often require the integration of Jaka’s vision system to achieve the precision needed for a smooth, consistent finish, especially on curved surfaces or areas where  uniform roughness is critical”.

Jaka is, in fact, among the few cobot manufacturers capable of offering systems with proprietary, flange-integrated vision technology. This added capability enables a wide range of applications, including robot guidance, OCR barcode reading, and visual inspection tasks. The result is remarkable flexibility in a product offering that continues to expand, today accounting for 20% of all Jaka solutions sold.