7th "FH advancement award of the mainfranken economy" of the IHK Foundation goes to Professor Dr. Jan Schmitt
In Schweinfurt, Caroline Trips, Vice President of the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce, presented Professor Jan Schmitt of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS) with the "FH advancement award of the mainfranken economy", endowed with 1,300 euros. The professor conducts research at the Faculty of Business and Engineering on the topics of process management in digital production, automation technology, collaborative robotics and sustainability in production.
Schmitt wants to use the funding to design and implement an adaptive robot gripper. With the help of the gripper, process integration can be improved in assembly environments where there is a division of labor and assembly processes can be made more flexible. The gripper completes an existing smart workstation with a collaborating robot. On the one hand, the aim is to provide students with access to research- and practice-relevant technologies via adaptive gripping technology as system components. On the other hand, the structure of the robot gripper applied for represents the first step towards opening up further sub-areas, e.g. in the areas of "sensor integration" at the end effector of the robot or smart human-machine collaboration in processes based on the division of labour.
In the presence of FHWS President Professor Dr. Robert Grebner and IHK Deputy Managing Director Jürgen Bode, IHK Vice President Trips emphasized the importance of practical research for Lower Franconia as a science location. The FH promotion price represents a further financing column for scientists in the region . With the assignment the donation pursues the goal of promoting technology-oriented, innovative research disciplines, management techniques, research projects and projects at the FH peppering castle pig ford. The hope behind this is, of course, that some of these projects will lead to the development of new products, processes and services that have the potential to create innovations here in Mainfranken and thus create or maintain a competitive advantage.
FHWS President Professor Dr. Robert Grebner thanked on behalf of the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt and expressed his wish that Schweinfurt not only be the world capital of ball bearings, but also the world capital of robotics: Robotics would change the world, the FHWS could take part in it as a lighthouse at the location in Schweinfurt.
With the FH advancement award, the industry has been supporting practical research projects at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt since 2013. The amount paid out annually is based on the interest income of the foundation capital and varies depending on the interest situation. So far, the foundation has been able to support projects at the FHWS with around 15,000 euros. On the occasion of its 175th anniversary in 2018, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce last launched an appeal for donations in the Lower Franconian economy and was able to increase the foundation capital to around 500,000 euros.
Overview of the projects funded so far at the FHWS:
2013: Professor Dr.-Ing. Winfried Wilke and Professor Dr. Ulrich Müller-Steinfahrt: Study on optimizing the supply chain of perishable goods (OptiChain)
2014: Professor Dr. Christoph Bunsen: Construction of an electric scooter
2015: Professor Dr. Karsten Huffstadt: 3D scanner for real-time acquisition of a modelling mass-supported design process
2016: Professor Dr. Arndt Balzer: Connected Home Concept
2017: Professor Dr. Gordana Michos: PROFIBUS Interface for a Measurement Data Acquisition System
2018: Professor Dr. Christoph Bunsen: Mini Robot
2019: Professor Dr. Jan Schmitt: Adaptive robot gripper. For integration into a collaborative, digitized assembly workstation.
