Martin Haegele

Martin Haegele received his degree as Diplom-Ingenieur in mechanical engineering from the University of Stuttgart and his degree of Master of Science (Solid Mechanics and Materials Science) from the George Washington University in Washington DC, USA. In 1989 he started working as a research engineer in industry. In 1992 he transferred as a researcher in robotics and automation to Fraunhofer IPA. In 1993 he was promoted to Head of Department ”Robot Systems” and has been appointed a member of the Fraunhofer IPA managing board in 2001. Martin Haegele holds several awards such as the ”Award of the German Association of Machine Tools Manufacturers (VDW)” (1990), and the ”Grand Prix Européen de l’Innovation et des Technologies Nouvelles” in 1998. In 2007 Martin Haegele received the Engelberger Award, the highest honor in robotics. His interests are robotics and automation technologies at large.

Presentation

Innovations in robotics towards intelligent, low-cost and universal tools in agile manufacturing

Today’s manufacturing is exposed to simultaneous challenges: responsiveness to market turbulences while maintaining cost-effectiveness, new emerging manufacturing processes related to light-weight designs, and resource efficiency in the widest sense. Automation, typically resulting in complex, costly and inflexible systems has to respond to these challenges, even more so as small to medium sized manufacturing is dominant in Europe. In order to escape from the “automation trap” – either opt for current automation solutions or compete on the basis of lowest wages – lean and intelligent automation solutions are emerging which put industrial robotics into the center as an intelligent, low-cost and universal tool. These solutions allow continuous degrees of automation through human-robot-interaction, adaptable layouts though modularity, integrating processing and material flows, and seamless information integration.

 Innovations in robotics towards intelligent, low-cost and universal tools in agile manufacturing