RoboValley Dresden
Automating production robots in SMEs
Just a few years ago, large areas of production technology were still characterized by manual activities. Today, robot automation is the method of choice to meet the demand for increased efficiency and to counter the shortage of skilled workers.
This is primarily implemented in series production. However, these solutions are often rigidly interlinked and therefore inflexible, not very adaptable and only changeable with a great deal of effort. Each reprogramming and subsequent certification costs a lot of time and money. Highly flexible robots are often used, but the potential of their possibilities is still exploited far too rarely.
While large companies have long had their planning groups, specialists and trained experts for robot automation, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular do not currently have the prerequisites for robot automation. They are constantly faced with the question: Is automation even worth it?
RoboValley Dresden: Making SMEs fit for the automation of production robots
A powerful alliance of Dresden robotics experts is working to ensure that such investments pay off in the future. Their aim is to develop robots that are easy to use and have components and capabilities that can be integrated intuitively. "We want to inspire SMEs to use new technologies, such as robot-based automation solutions that allow humans and robots to perform tasks together in the same working environment," explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Steffen Ihlenfeldt (TU Dresden, Fraunhofer IWU), who is coordinating the alliance of start-ups, established specialist companies and research institutes such as the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU. "We are pooling research and development projects here in "RoboValley Dresden" to help companies with very specific solutions to make their production processes more efficient."
App store for automated robot functions
In complete robot automation ecosystems, the alliance therefore compiles available components, additional systems and capabilities as well as functions with artificial intelligence (AI) and makes them available for use. For example, SMEs can quickly book grippers (software) or optical component recognition functions in the web store and then integrate and adapt them into their systems. The process is similar to app stores for smartphones, but is much more challenging, as the safety of people and materials has absolute priority. Software crashes or other disruptive factors in the application with possible consequential damage must be prevented.
Robotics alliance becomes flagship for the Dresden location
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