PORTFOLIO

Planaro develops a modular tabletop production environment for flexible industrial assembly. Today, many factories rely on fixed conveyor lines that work well for stable high volume products but become difficult to adapt when product variants increase, batch sizes shrink and process flows change. Planaro replaces this linear logic with a freely usable production plane on which compact multidirectional shuttles transport products between process stations. The project combines flexible material flow with process relevant positioning through a proprietary shuttle drivetrain, a lightweight coded surface and docking based fine positioning. During the PROOF phase, a demonstrator cell with two shuttles and one process station will make the concept tangible for industrial stakeholders. The goal is to validate the technical basis and identify the most promising first applications in High Mix Low Volume precision assembly.

Planaro originated from student projects, Bachelor and Master level work at OST and has already produced a first functional shuttle prototype. With the support of Gebert Rüf Stiftung, the team will complete and stabilize a presentation ready demonstrator between September and November 2026. The next steps are to demonstrate field motion, coarse positioning and docking based fine positioning, present the system at selected industry events and direct demonstrations in Rapperswil, and collect structured feedback from end users, automation integrators and potential technology partners. The results will define the first application focus and the basis for a possible VALIDATE phase or industrial collaboration. Planaro is currently an OST based project and is preparing the route toward a future spin off.