The award ceremony took place on April 19, 2026 as part of the opening of the Hannover Messe. The award was presented by Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, in the presence of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Specially designed for use in the joints of humanoid robots

At the heart of the award is an actuator platform specially developed for use in the joints of humanoid robots. This includes highly efficient servo electric motors with integrated power electronics and encoders. Depending on customer requirements, the platform can be configured with two-stage planetary gearboxes or shaft gearboxes.

During development, the focus was consistently on minimizing installation space while maintaining a high continuous torque. Compared to current solutions on the market, the installation space has been reduced by around 20 percent. To ensure a low temperature level at high torques, the copper fill factor in the frameless PSM machine was also increased. Overall, the actuator platform should help to significantly reduce system costs and thus creates a key prerequisite for the rapid scaling of service robotics.

"I would like to congratulate this year's award winners. As patron of the Hermes Award, I am very pleased to be able to make top innovations visible," said Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär. "The companies Schaeffler and BTRY show that world-class research comes from Europe. With its innovative platform for highly integrated actuators, Schaeffler is advancing robotics in Germany. The platform is a central building block for robotics to develop its huge potential in conjunction with the outstanding ecosystem of strong industry and manufacturing. With the High-Tech Agenda Germany, we want to leverage potential such as this. At the same time, it is about Europe as a technology location."

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka also underlines the importance of the award-winning technology: "The use of robots and cobots in industrial and commercial applications is creating a rapidly growing future market," says Hanselka. "Systemic actuator platforms play a central role in the scaling of service robotics. The solution developed by Schaeffler is a key component of humanoid robotics. Due to the high force effect in a confined space and the end-to-end concept, it will have a lasting impact on the industrial value chain and is highly relevant for numerous other areas of application. I am convinced that this will give the company a key role in the growing market for humanoid robotics.