RoboHub Lower Saxony

© TEWISS/Phillip Becker

Manufacturing companies face the challenges of reducing material waste, speeding up production processes and at the same time making workplaces more ergonomic. Collaborative lightweight robots (cobots) are a technology that can support companies in achieving these goals. With the RoboHub Niedersachsen , the Hannover Region's Economic and Employment Promotion Agency is working with a consortium to create an innovation lab that teaches companies about the company-specific benefits of this technology.

Cobots are changing the face of future production in the long term. In contrast to traditional industrial robots, cobots are comparatively easy to program and can be operated without an enclosure or comprehensive safety systems such as light barriers.

Due to these characteristics, cobots allow for the first time a cost-effective automation of processes where this was previously not profitable due to low production volumes. This makes it possible to make production processes more profitable on site instead of having to outsource them to countries with lower production costs. In some cases, it is also possible to restock work processes, resulting in more resilient supply chains.

Alternatively, cobots can be used as assistance systems to support manual work steps. For example, handing tools or assembly components can make workplaces more ergonomic.

Woltersmann

However, companies are often still unaware of the specific possibilities of this technology for optimizing their operational and component-specific processes. This is why many small industrial and craft businesses are still refraining from using cobots. TEWISS - Technik und Wissen GmbH , VISION Lasertechnik GmbH , the Institute for Assembly Technology at Leibniz Universität Hannover and the Hannover Region's Economic and Employment Promotion Agency are helping to remedy this situation.

Cobots and grippers from various suppliers are therefore provided in the RoboHub Niedersachsen . This test room allows specialists and managers from SMEs to gain their own experience with this technology in practical basic workshops. In more advanced workshops, the participants develop their own initial applications - if required, even using a real component from their own company.

The use cases were implemented as part of the project "Cost-effective automation for small companies" (cobots in production) funded by the Hannover Region Economic Development Corporation. Possible use cases for the use of cobots in production, such as those that can be developed for your company in RoboHub, can be found here:

To ensure that companies and research institutions develop further successful examples from the network's innovative ideas as quickly as possible, the Hannover Region's Economic and Employment Promotion Agency not only supports Robohub Niedersachsen with €20,000.

Individual company projects and cooperation projects in regional companies are also supported with up to €10,000. The aim is not only to efficiently implement cobot applications that can be used in the long term, e.g. for welding sheet metal or equipping milling machines.

The development of innovative hardware and software components, such as intelligent grippers, is also being considered. In addition, the innovation consultants from the Economic and Employment Promotion Department also support interested companies in acquiring funding from the federal government or the state of Lower Saxony.