a newly developed standardised cell concept for welding machines, KUKA flexibleCUBE. In the automation sector, KUKA Systems offers standard and customised products for industrial production automation; joining technologies and component handling are amongst their activity. The technologies are tested and the production processes are fully optimised prior to the development. In addition, KUKA Systems offers engineering and individual counselling. In June 2016, Midea Group offered to buy Kuka for about €4.5 billion ($5 billion). Midea completed the takeover bid in January 2017 by purchasing a 94.55% voting stake in the company. In late 2017 Kuka announced that 250 employees of KUKA Systems were terminated. The management named trouble with projects as a reason. Most robots are finished in "KUKA Orange" (the official corporate colour) or black. Corporate structure The company is headquartered in Augsburg, Germany. As of December 2014, KUKA employed more than 13,000 workers. While previously emphasising customers in the automotive industry, the company has since expanded to other industries. It has 5 divisions: Systems Robotics Swisslog Logistics Automation Swisslog Healthcare China Notable milestones 1971 – Europe's first welding transfer line built for Daimler-Benz. 1973 – The world's first industrial robot with six electromechanically driven axes, known as FAMULUS. 1976 – IR 6/60 – An utterly new robot type with six electromechanically driven axes and an offset wrist. 1989 – A new generation of industrial robots is developed – brushless drive motors for a low maintenance and a higher technical availability. 2004 – The first Cobot KUKA LBR 3 is released. This computer controlled lightweight robot is able to interact directly with humans without safety fences and was the result of a collaboration with the German Aerospace Center institute since 1995. 2007 – KUKA Titan – at the time, the biggest and strongest industrial robot with six axes, entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. 2010 – As the only robot family, the robot series KR QUANTEC completely covers the load range of 90 up to 300 kg with a reach of up to 3100 mm for the first time. 2012 – The new small robot series KR AGILUS is launched. 2014 – With a video released in March, the company gained some recognition with the general public. The video supposedly teased their new robot, specialised in Table Tennis and shows a match against Timo Boll, a German professional. It is however not a real match but a