The American Robotic Industries Association (RIA) has honored Esben Østergaard with the 2018 Engelberger Robotics Award. Østergaard is largely responsible for the development of collaborative robotic arms from Universal Robots (UR). The award ceremony took place at Automatica 2018 in Munich.

"Esben Østergaard's work has made it possible for robots to work in applications and industries that were once considered unthinkable," says Jeff Burnstein, President of RIA. "His focus on the collaborative aspect has sparked immense interest, especially among small and medium-sized companies that had not even considered robotics in the past. In a world that is now increasingly characterized by collaboration between humans and robots, Esben's groundbreaking technological advances play a central role."

In 2008, Universal Robots launched the world's first commercially viable robot that can work safely alongside humans without a protective housing. At a time when collaboration between humans and robots was still a novelty, this also meant an immense financial risk. However, the UR robot was not only safe, but also light, easy to operate and flexible. Today, the company holds a 58% share of all cobots sold worldwide and recorded sales growth of 72% in 2017.

"I am deeply honored to win the prize named after Joseph Engelberger," says Esben Østergaard. "Engelberger revolutionized industrial manufacturing with robotics. Like Universal Robots, he believed that a robot should be able to handle a wide range of tasks in a factory. I am a great admirer of his work."

Safety, simple operation and flexibility

Esben Østergaard's development team was the first to combine advanced robot programming with user-friendly operation via an intuitive tablet interface. This enables users without programming experience to quickly set up and operate the UR robots.

Østergaard also developed the robot's force and safety control system. This ensures that the robot automatically stops operation in the event of a collision with a person and does not cause any personal injury, while complying with current safety requirements for force and torque limits. These features have eliminated the need for protective housing in the majority of currently installed UR robot applications and continue to lead the way in the concept of collaborative robotics.

Nevertheless, according to Esben Østergaard, safety is merely "the price of entry" into the cobot market. Østergaard continues to push UR's leading position by constantly raising the bar for what the term "collaborative" implies: The term doesn't just mean that humans can work directly with the robots without a protective enclosure. The term also refers to ease of use - a robot is not truly collaborative unless it is affordable and easy to use. as