PROFACTOR - Openlab: the robot. Our colleague

The robot. Our colleague. This was the motto under which PROFACTOR extended an invitation to visit the cognitive factory-LAB in Steyr on Wednesday, 22 November as part of the euRobotics Weeks.

Demonstrators from current research projects gave insights into the robotics of tomorrow – into a kind of robotics that is geared to intelligent cooperation with humans. In the morning, discussions were held on current areas of use and trends in collaborative robotics in the seminar “Human-machine interaction – assistive robotics”. In two talks, expert from PROFACTOR and accident insurers AUVA explained the latest technical developments as well as legal aspects and the challenges that come with them for operating companies especially with regard to retooling machinery.

PROFACTOR surprised industry with robot-based inkjet printer

Printing on a sport shoe with a robot-based inkjet printer was one of the highlights at the InPrint 2016, the[ exhibition for industrial print technology, from 15th to 17th of November in Milan, Italy.

In cooperation with Ardeje, PROFACTOR presented an inkjet printer prototype for printing on curved surfaces supported by a robot.

The capability of the robot assisted printing on 3D objects was demonstrated with printing of a green grass design on sport shoes with ink receptive 3D Haptic coatings provided by the Chinese company HUAFENG. Perfectly programmed by PROFACTOR Engineers, the robot made the job with high reliability and repeatability. For many visitor, the demonstration was the most impressive innovation presented at the InPrint show 2016.

The prototyp was developed in the  addmanu project

PROFACTOR (robotics, process development) and TIGER Coatings (ink) are together developing the robot assisted printing system in a ongoing national funded project.  addmanu is a national flag ship project for research, development and the establishment of additive manufacturing  with more than 20 partners from universities and industry. Apart from the project, ARDEJE developed the inkjet printing engine.