According to reports in the local media, including weekly newspaper Niederösterreichische Nachrichten and regional online news portal meinbezirk.at , the Mostviertel (‘Must Quarter’) is on track to become a forerunner in robot technology in Austria. A total of €227,000 is being invested in various projects in the region, €41,000 of which has been used to purchase a hire cobot that can be leased out to small businesses for two to three weeks on a trial basis. The cobot, developed as part of the proHTL NÖ contest, is easy to operate and program, does not require a safety fence, and can be controlled via a tablet. In addition, local enterprises are also developing concrete applications for their environment. At the center of the numerous project partners is an educational institution: the HTL Waidhofen , which describes itself as a “school of digitization”.

The idea has a great deal of potential, especially given that cobots are still proving particularly popular among SMEs. With often smaller batch sizes and varying formats, SMEs especially benefit from flexible solutions with low installation and operating costs. ABI Research therefore even sees SMEs as the main driver of the growing cobot market.