Next Generation Robot Technologies Discussed

Technology pioneer Schunk drew attention to the place of robotic technologies in our lives at the Industrial Robot Automation and Future Conference

Being the world leader in its sector, Schunk participated in the Industrial Robot Automation and Future Conference held on Connection Days, the digital event platform of Hannover Fairs Turkey. Schunk Turkey and Middle East Country Manager Emre Sönmez and Automation Department Sales Manager Egemen Zengin, who took part as speakers in the "Future Robot Automation and Complementary Technologies" panel, shared the current developments about new generation robot technologies, and how robots that will exist in many fields in the near future will affect our daily lives. They talked about their predictions that it would have an impact.

Schunk, the world leader in the market of gripper systems, robot accessories, CNC machine workpiece clamping systems and tool holders used in automation, operating in more than 50 countries around the world, Industrial Robot Automation organized in cooperation with Hannover Fairs Turkey and ENOSAD (Industrial Automation Manufacturers Association). and its Future Conference as a Premium Sponsor. Schunk Turkey and Middle East Country Manager Emre Sönmez and Schunk Turkey Automation Department Sales Manager Egemen Zengin participated as speakers at the “Robo Automation of the Future and Complementary Technologies” panel; new generation robot technologies and their place in our lives were discussed in depth.

Increasing use of collaborative robots

Stating that as Schunk, they are a technology company working in the field of complementary equipment in robotic applications, Schunk Turkey and Middle East Country Manager Emre Sönmez said; “In our own work, we produce flexible and efficient robot grippers and accessories inspired by nature. Digitalization, mobility, electrical equipment and artificial intelligence are more involved in our lives than before. We will see the reflections of this increase more intensely in applications with robots. We see that the number of installations of cobot applications, which play an increasing role in the industry with each passing day, increased by 2019 percent in 11. In total, 373 percent of the 4.8 robots are collaborative robots. As Schunk, we make smart, self-learning, communication and sensing robotic grippers for all these collaborative robots and offer them to our customers as very fast plug-and-play systems.”

Robotic arms with human hand sensitivity

Sönmez also shared information about the most used robots in the industry; “One of the promising areas for us is autonomous mobile robot applications, which we call AMR. We anticipate that robotic applications will appear more often in factories in terms of mobility, especially as mobility gains a lot of space in our lives. We are working to make the work of our business partners and end users easier with robot grippers that can imitate the movements of the human hand and do not require maintenance. The application that has been frequently encountered in recent times is robotic surface treatment applications. We see that most of these operations are done manually by humans. We think that more robots will be involved in surface treatment operations in the near future. For this reason, we continue to develop new products under robot accessories. In addition, robotic applications in the agricultural sector are increasing day by day. If we divide the sector into two; open field robotic applications include land processing, land preparation, spraying of crops and crop harvesting. The second part is indoor applications where our industrial robots are used much more. In this area, especially greenhouse cultivation, seedling and sapling cultivation, product harvesting come to the fore. Whether the products come to the desired color and size, as well as whether they meet the maturity criteria, are checked with sensors and then harvesting can be carried out with robotic grippers without damaging the product.

Offers the world's widest product range

Speaking about the activities of Schunk Turkey, Schunk Turkey Automation Department Sales Manager Egemen Zengin said, “As Schunk, we produce long-lasting, sensitive and reliable products for our customers. We maintain our leadership in technology while offering our customers the best range of products. We have the widest product portfolio of holding and work clamping systems in the world, with more than 11 thousand standard products consisting of holding systems, handling systems and robot accessories used in automation, and tool holder and work clamping systems used in machining benches. Our cross-industry competence has reached 2 percent, as we serve both the automation and machining sectors by offering our customers more than 100 special solutions per year. In addition, we allocate 8,5 percent of our turnover to R&D activities every year in order to maintain our technological leadership.”