PORTFOLIO

We want to provide innovative solutions to make the automation of high-mix low-volume production affordable. Many companies producing in small batches are indeed still relying on manual work. This makes maintaining the production in Switzerland difficult since production prices are higher than the foreign competition due to the high wages. In addition, recruiting workers for dull, low-paid jobs is becoming difficult. Traditional automation solutions are not viable since they are typically designed for mass production and are not profitable for small volumes, while new plug-and-play solutions are not flexible enough to address industrial needs properly. To overcome this, we develop solutions so that companies with no expertise in robotics can learn the skills to develop their own affordable, ad-hoc solutions. We thus focus on both making the technology easier to use and helping non-experts to learn the skills needed to use robots to their full potential.

The aim is to develop our prototype into a commercial product and to create a start-up. The development takes place in close cooperation with an industrial steering committee, with the goal of understanding better the market needs and developing a minimum viable product in the next two years. In the first project phase a new industrial grade demonstrator was developed to show the feasibility and the efficiency of our approach. In a further step, this demonstrator will be tested in a real production plant and further developed according to users’ feedback. We work now in collaboration with several companies from different industrial sectors to improve our product so that it meets their needs. Once the product is ready and the first customer orders are secured, the start-up will be created.