The seventh edition of the Smart Green Island Makeathon took place in Gran Canaria. The ITQ GmbH Innovation Festival invites students, universities and companies from all over the world to work together on innovative projects for application areas such as smart farming, robotics and the circular economy. The aim is to get young people excited about technology and drive digitalisation worldwide in the interest of sustainability. The Cologne-based plastics specialist and robot manufacturer igus also took part for the fourth time as one of the top sponsors. The Low Cost Automation experts supported the students on site with their expertise and robotics solutions, such as the ReBeL cobot.
Mobile robotic systems are being used in more and more work areas, from e-commerce warehouses to modern restaurants. Conventional models on the market start at around €25,000, while solutions with an integrated robot arm are priced at approx. €70,000 (prices may vary in your country). However, widespread use is often unaffordable for small and medium-sized companies due to the high prices. igus wants to change this with new low-cost robotics offerings and is presenting a series of low-cost mobile plastic robots at the Hannover Messe.
In March 2024, igus acquired the majority stake in Portuguese company Atronia Tailored Sensing. The sensor specialist has been enabling plastic products from Cologne to feel for five years now. With this strategic step, igus intends to expand their offer in the market for networked plastic components. The aim is to mass-produce Industry 4.0 products and make them accessible to small and medium-sized companies.
RCYL starts a new chapter in sustainable mobility. The former igus:bike is now called RCYL – a bicycle made from 50 per cent recycled fishing nets. For the moving components, igus relies on its lubrication-free, rust-free and recyclable high-performance plastics – “zero lubrication”. With series production in Cologne, igus is setting a milestone: the plastics company aims to produce 5,000 bicycles by next season. This, however, is just the beginning. The aim is to establish local production at landfill sites around the world and thus close the plastic cycle.
After two years of rapid growth totalling 57 per cent, igus was able to maintain its billion-euro turnover in 2023 despite the challenging global economic situation. In 2024, the company will invest in 247 new motion plastics products and digital services. More favourable and better solutions for lubrication-free movements, low-cost automation and CO2-reducing products are the focal points. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has now made it possible to bundle hundreds of thousands of test data and millions of applications from 60 years of igus experience into a simple solution finder for the “Zero Lubrication” goal: the igusGO app. 433 million euros of investment in the last three years, around half of it in Germany alone, is accelerating this technical progress and delivery from stock worldwide. This trend is set to continue in 2024.