The ROSSINI project is the brainchild of the Horizon 2020 EU funding program for research and innovation and has been rolled out to optimize and popularize human-robot collaboration (HRC) applications. Among the partners involved in the project is Pilz, an international full-service supplier of automation technology that is particularly committed to the issue of safety. A total of 13 companies from seven countries are taking part in the project, which is seeking to combine the theoretical and practical sides to human and machine collaboration. Rather than being named after the famous composer, the project's name comes from the title "RObot enhanced SenSing, INtelligence and actuation to Improve job quality in manufacturing".

One aim of the project is to develop a disruptive, inherently safe hardware-software platform for the design and deployment of HRC in manufacturing. By combining innovative sensor, drive and control technologies and integrating them into an open development environment, the project is looking to deliver a set of tools that will help encourage the spread of HRC applications. One of the developers behind these technologies is Pilz, the market leader in this field and a company that has taken up the task of merging human operators and robots into one harmonious team, thereby increasing workstation quality, production flexibility and productivity.

In its role as technical manager, Pilz has supported the ROSSINI project from the very start and it also looks after the fields of robotic manipulators and sensor development. The project managers at Pilz are in no doubt about why it makes sense for the company to support ROSSINI: "There is genuine added value for Pilz and its customers. It is important for us as a company to make a contribution to the current research and development in HRC and thus support progress, particularly in the field of safety. What's more, it's important for us as developers to maintain a lively, cross-sector dialog among experts and world market leaders."

Pilz GmbH & Co. KG (73760 Ostfildern, Germany)
Website: www.pilz.com/en-DE