On Robot was delighted to receive two awards for its gripper Gecko Gripper at the beginning of April. At the Hannover Messe, the Danish gripper manufacturer impressed the jury with its gripper and won the Robotics Award 2019, which comes with prize money of 10,000 euros. The next prize followed in the USA on 5 April: On Robot was also presented with the silver Edison Award for the Gecko Gripper in New York. The award, named after inventor Thomas Alva Edison, is presented annually in 16 different categories and honors outstanding technological innovations. Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of On Robot, was delighted with the awards: "The two prizes are a great tribute to the hard work we have put into developing our Gecko Gripper. On behalf of our entire team, I would like to thank you for this recognition."

The Gecko Gripper from On Robot. © On Robot

The Gecko Gripper is a new type of gripper technology: the surfaces of the end effector are covered with millions of tiny hairs. When pressed onto an object, they generate strong van der Waals forces and thus adhesion, which the gripper makes use of. In this way, it holds objects without additional energy input and can be released again by gently tilting. Unlike most vacuum grippers, the Gecko Gripper can also handle flat objects with perforated or porous surfaces without any problems and leaves no residue behind. In addition, the gripping process is virtually instantaneous, meaning that the use of this energy-efficient solution promises to increase throughput. It also does not require compressed air and hose systems that are susceptible to faults, which reduces maintenance costs.

New General Manager DACH and Benelux: Björn Milsch

Krog Iversen was accompanied at the Robotics Award ceremony in Hanover by Björn Milsch, who joined the company as General Manager DACH and Benelux at the beginning of April. He was also delighted with the awards for his new employer. "I could hardly have wished for a better start to my new job," said the economics graduate. Milsch moved from Danish camera manufacturer JAI A/S to On Robot. Milsch was responsible for EMEA sales at the company, which specializes in industrial image processing.