HERMES AWARD nominees announced

The winner will be announced at the opening ceremony of HANNOVER MESSE on 16 April, in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The award will be presented by Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Research.

Every year Deutsche Messe presents the HERMES AWARD, industry’s leading international prize, to a company whose product or solution demonstrates a particularly high degree of technological innovation. Only technology solutions that have already been tried and tested on an industrial scale are considered. Jury chairperson and Fraunhofer president Prof. Neugebauer explained the selection process as follows: “Once again, the quality of the submissions this year was very impressive. With a sensor-based balancing module for robots, a modular industrial robot construction kit and a multi-user platform for building management, the nominees brilliantly demonstrated their innovative strength with efficient, sustainable, and flexible solutions. All three of these solutions have the potential to dynamically shape their respective fields and to bring about lasting change in their areas of application. On behalf of the jury, I wish all three nominees every success in their future endeavors.”

ACS Climatics, Groningen, Netherlands: The first nominated project “Climatics” is a multi-user platform for building management. Digital twin technologies with machine-learning algorithms are used to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. For this purpose, the measurement data of heating, ventilation and air conditioning are collected in a single device with high temporal resolution. Since this is a learning system, the sensor data is run through a plausibility check. Using this system, energy savings of an average 25% can be achieved through the optimized interaction of all the climate-determining variables.

Beckhoff, Verl, Germany: The second nomination went to ATRO – the Automation Technology for Robotics project. This is a modular industrial robot building kit that can be used to individually and flexibly assemble optimum robot structures for several applications. Standardized motor modules with integrated drive functionality, together with link modules in various designs and lengths, enable a wide range of mechanical combinations. The complete integration of the controller into the holistic TwinCAT control platform makes a wide range of proven automation functions directly available.

Bosch Rexroth, Schweinfurt, Germany: The third nominated project, the Smart Flex Effector, is a sensor-based compensation module (end effector) for robots with independent, precise kinematics in six degrees of freedom. It can be used in handling or joining processes with tight tolerances in automation technology or robotics with loads of up to 6 kg. The position of workpieces or handling objects can be sensed by robots using the Smart Flex Effector. The application possibilities are diverse, as it is also suitable for human-robotic collaboration as an add-on device for several different robots.