Robot-made spiderwebs
Spiders and caterpillars are renowned masters of construction engineering thanks to their skill in creating astonishingly stable structures with their threads. But now there’s a challenge to their throne. The 3D Cocooner thread-spinning robot that FESTO is exhibiting at HANNOVER MESSE 2016 can conjure complex and stable forms made from glass-fiber threads that closely resemble spiderwebs and pupae’s cocoons.

To create a stable lattice structure, the robot first laminates the soft thread with a special resin as it leaves the spinneret. Once expelled from the printhead, a UV light immediately cures the resin-coated thread with pinpoint accuracy, thus hardening it in place to form a tough rod. Throughout the construction process, the thread can be re-attached to the lattice structure wherever desired in order to continue the build. This makes it possible to construct even complex 3D forms without the need for any additional support.

A vertically arranged EXPT-45 tripod acts as a handling system for the 3D Cocooner. This system can maneuver and position the device accurately at high speed, thus making it the perfect choice for the task. The animation software used to generate the parameters of the desired 3D form communicates the positioning data and control commands directly to the tripod. Besides the design of the model, the program also stores a map of the complete handling route. From this, the software then calculates the entire sequence of movements, creates a visual simulation and seamlessly transmits the information to the tripod’s actual travel paths.

FESTO AG & Co. KG
Ruiter Strasse 82
73734 Esslingen
Germany
Tel.: +49 711 347-0
Fax: +49 711 347-2628
www.festo.com

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Claudia Hackbarth
Hall 15, Stand D07
E-mail: chak@de.festo.com

Welcome to the future - with printable organic batteries
Plastic batteries produced using a printer? It sounds very sci-fi, but researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena have actually accomplished this feat. As resources are continuously depleted, these organic batteries could genuinely provide an alternative means of storing electrical energy. The research team is showing visitors to HANNOVER MESSE 2016 what these organic batteries are made of and how they’re produced.

The active materials in this new type of battery are organic compounds (polymers), which could replace the inorganic electrode materials (e.g. lithium cobalt oxide) that are threatening to become increasingly scarce. The more straightforward processing methods that the polymers allow also enable the manufacture of different battery types. After all, the conductive polymers can be printed quite simply in a matter of minutes as a paste or a liquid ink using either screen or inkjet printing. The team can use inkjet printing to adapt the shape of the battery to the intended application, whereas screen printing is used to produce thicker, more powerful batteries. The charging process takes only a few minutes. These printed batteries could potentially be used in bio-chips and other fields of microelectronics.

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Servicezentrum Forschung und Transfer
Fürstengraben 1
07743 Jena (Thuringia)
Germany
Tel.: +49 3641 9310-77
Fax: +49 3641 9310-62
www.uni-jena.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Dr. André Wejwoda
Hall 2, Stand A38
Tel.: +49 351 46335-373
E-mail: andre.wejwoda@tu-dresden.de

The world's smallest biomass power plant at just four square meters
More than one billion people on this planet have no fixed source of electricity. This means they often have to resort to pollutant and expensive diesel generators. But at HANNOVER MESSE 2016, ENTRADE Energiesysteme is showcasing a better alternative in the form of E3 - the world's smallest biomass power plant. Measuring an impressive 1.86 meters (length) by 1.56 meters (width) by 2 meters (height), it occupies just four square meters of floorspace. Not only that, but it fits through any regular house doorway and is delivered on two 90 cm-wide pallets. It takes only 72 hours to set up the E3 as an environmentally friendly source of electricity for schools, hospitals or living quarters.

This ultra-compact power plant is fueled with biomass pellets, which are not burned but transformed into a mixture of gases at temperatures of 1,200 degrees Celsius in the reactor. These are then fed into the combustion engine that powers the generator. The nominal power output is 22 kilowatts, and up to 55 kilowatts of waste heat can be used for heating if required. The E3 can supply 400 people with round-the-clock electricity at a reasonable price. In Germany, for instance, this could cover the needs of a 20-family apartment block. The E3 Power System can also be used as a charging station for electric cars. The biomass power station weighs approximately one ton and can be supplied in a container if preferred with an output of 50 or 100 kilowatts.

ENTRADE Energiesysteme AG
Hubertusstrasse 6
53949 Dahlem
Germany
Tel.: +49 2447 218100-0
www.entrade.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Regina Krause
Hall 2, Stand C28
Cellphone: +49 1520 908-6611
E-mail: info@entrade.de

Touchscreens on a roll
The touchscreens found on smartphones, tablets, etc., are operated using the microscopically fine circuit paths built into their surfaces. When users tap on them or swipe their fingers across, this completes and breaks the tiny circuits, thus activating the smartphone’s various functions. These microscopic paths meet to form larger circuit paths at the edges of the device. Until now, manufacturing the different circuit paths was a complex process involving several different stages. But now researchers from the INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials are unveiling a new process at HANNOVER MESSE 2016 that can manufacture micrometer-fine circuit paths on substrates such as glass or even elastic foils.

This innovation opens the door to a new world of design that will see devices with flexible or even roll-up displays. It will soon become possible to put touch-sensitive displays and operating panels on the ergonomically shaped handles of small electrical appliances and household appliances or console elements. Gestures such as tapping or swiping the surface will still function reliably even on curved surfaces. The technology could completely replace conventional buttons, keys and switches.

INM – Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien gGmbH
Campus D2 2
66123 Saarbrücken
Germany
Tel.: +49 681 9300-0
Fax: +49 681 9300-223
www.leibniz-inm.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Dr. Michael Opsölder
Hall 2, Stand B46, co-exhibitor with Saarland University, WuT
E-mail: michael.opsoelder@leibniz-inm.de

6,000 meters under the sea - a new generation of underwater vehicles
The oceans cover 71 percent of the surface of our planet. Their vast depths, in particular, hide a wealth of undiscovered secrets. To reach so deep down and explore the ocean floor, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB) have been developing autonomous underwater vehicles.

At HANNOVER MESSE 2016, the Institute is showcasing project DEDAVE - Deep Diving Autonomous Underwater Vehicles for Exploration. DEDAVE can dive to a maximum depth of 6,000 meters and weighs in at less than 700 kilos. The conventional mass of cables has been replaced by a CAN-Bus system, which tidies up the interior considerably, prevents errors and simplifies maintenance. As a result, all the control devices and electric motors can be linked to a single cable.

At just 3.5 meters long, up to four DEDAVE vehicles can fit into one shipping container. The battery management software was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology (ISIT) in Itzehoe. Over the coming weeks, DEDAVE will be tested in deep open water in collaboration with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel and a Spanish research institute. The robust, high-performance vehicles glide cable-free and autonomously through the water, gather data and return independently to the research ship.

Series production of the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) has just commenced. Besides scientific organizations, other potential customers are likely to include oil companies and businesses in search of new raw materials or needing to service pipelines and underwater cables on a regular basis.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Hansastrasse 27c
80686 Munich
Germany
Tel.: +49 89 1205-0
www.dedave.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Franziska Kowalewski
Hall 2, Stand C22
Cellphone: +49 174 347-9783
E-mail: franziska.kowalewski@zv.fraunhofer.de

Co-worker forklift will see to that!
Before long, warehouse assistants will no longer need to climb behind the wheel of forklifts themselves in order to move objects from A to B. According to the Institute for Integrated Production Hannover (IPH), which is presenting its latest technology report at HANNOVER MESSE 2016, intelligent driverless transportation vehicles will soon be able to complete the job on their own.

Not only can these vehicles follow commands to perfection (such as "Place this pallet on shelf number 3"), but they can even identify the pallet their "colleague" is pointing at. The forklifts use 3D cameras to sense their environment and navigate by memorizing distinctive markers in their surroundings. If the environment changes in any way - for example, if a rack is pushed aside - the vehicle can adjust to this fact. This means that the new generation of driverless transportation systems can navigate without the need for predefined paths such as magnet sensors or markings on the floor.

IPH – Institut für Integrierte Produktion Hannover gGmbH
Hollerithallee 6
30419 Hannover
Germany
Tel.: +49 511 27976-0
Fax: +49 511 27976-888
www.iph-hannover.de

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Dr. Georg Ullmann
Hall 2, Stand A08, co-exhibitor with the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science
E-mail: ullmann@iph-hannover.de

"Listen with your eyes" using the acoustic camera that visualizes sound
At HANNOVER MESSE 2016, gfai tech is demonstrating a way of visually representing sound - even in 3D - with its groundbreaking acoustic camera, the first industrial-grade system for localizing acoustic emissions this way. The device can be used in particular to detect quality problems and reduce development times. The camera is designed as a modular, flexible system that is easy to set up and just as well suited for use inside automobiles as out in the open.

As a matter of fact, the design was inspired by the barn owl’s auditory system, which thanks to the asymmetrical position of the ears perceives a noise at two different points in time, registers this difference and helps the owl to accurately locate the source. The acoustic camera is equipped with an array of sensory studio microphones, a data recorder with up to 76 input channels and a notebook for the software to interpret and display the results. The device can record, represent and analyze almost any kind of noise and can localize the sound made by objects as small as gaming dice or as large as industrial plants. The fields of application are as diverse as the world of sound - including the automotive and railroad industries, wind energy, and the environmental, transportation and aerospace sectors.

gfai tech GmbH
Volmerstrasse 3
12489 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49 30 814563-750
Fax: +49 30 814563-755
www.acoustic-camera.com

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Benjamin Vonrhein
Hall 2, Stand B33
Cellphone: +49 172 693-3792
E-mail: vonrhein@gfaitech.de

Summertime - and the living is Breezy
Who doesn't look forward to summertime? But when the thermometer starts creeping toward the 40-degree-Celsius mark, even the shade can be too hot for comfort. But there's now a cool way to enjoy days like these, as Breezer Holdings is revealing at HANNOVER MESSE 2016 with its Power Breezer outdoor air conditioning unit.

The Power Breezer was designed for military use and meets the MIL-STD 810G standard for sand, dust, rain, heat and humidity. In other words, it is built to withstand the toughest climates. How does it work? It combines jet engine technology with fluid dynamics to blow a mist of tiny water droplets into the air. As the droplets evaporate, this cools the surrounding area. According to the manufacturer, the electrically powered Power Breezer can reduce the temperature of a 232-square-meter area by up to 15 degrees Celsius.

Breezer Holdings, LLC
550 SW 12th Avenue
Suite 550
Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
USA
Tel.: +1 954 418-4530
www.powerbreezer.com

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Joe Fairleigh
Hall 6, Stand F46, (35), co-exhibitor with Materials & Lightweight Solutions
E-mail: jfairleigh@powerbreezer.com

The robot with a gentle touch
How do you imagine a tomato would fare in the hands of a robot? You would probably expect it to get squashed or at least damaged in some way. In that case, you're in for a pleasant surprise with the groundbreaking soft actuator technology from Soft Robotics Inc. from the USA, the partner country at HANNOVER MESSE 2016.

The company’s new class of robotic end-of-arm tooling can now grip not just delicate fruit, but infinite objects of varying size, shape and stability. Robots with a delicate touch like this could certainly be put to good use in shipping departments. And to make sure they’re at home in any environment, these gentle grippers are designed to be compatible with standard industrial robots and commonly used vision systems.

Soft Robotics Inc.
51 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Tel.: +1 508 265-9453
Fax: +1 508 265-9453
www.softroboticsinc.com

Contact at HANNOVER MESSE 2016:
Joshua Lessing, Ph.D.
Tel.: +1 917 855-3989
E-mail: jlessing@softroboticsinc.com