Designing, constructing and programming: that’s what the Smart Green Island Makeathon on Gran Canaria was all about. It was recently held for the sixth time, organised by ITQ GmbH. The prototyping event brings students, universities and companies from all over the world together to develop the innovative, sustainable technologies of tomorrow. The focus is on such topics as robotics and automation, smart and green energy and smart mobility. One of the event’s top sponsors is igus GmbH from Cologne, which supported the young talented people on site with expertise and low-cost robotics.
Functional surface coatings are an integral part of everyday industrial life. igus iglidur coating materials can be used to protect particularly heavily used components from wear. The lubrication-free, plastic-based powder coatings serve as a friction-optimised surface for electrically conductive components, enabling customers to greatly extend their components’ service life. The iglidur coating designer makes it even easier to select the right coating.
Drilling 4,540 holes with precision: the trainees at SHW-Werkzeugmaschinen were faced with this task when building an air hockey table. For the mechanism of the special drilling machine, the prospective industrial mechanics and mechatronics technicians put their complete trust in the lubrication-free motion plastics from igus. Among other things, maintenance-free dryspin lead screws and the lubrication-free drylin W linear technology from igus are used.
Every year, millions of tons of plastic end up in the oceans. More than 1,000 rivers wash most plastic from land into the sea. Organisations like Plastic Fischer are trying to counteract this pollution. Since 2021, the non-profit company has been collecting and processing plastic waste from rivers in India and Indonesia. The river-cleaning initiative is supported by such companies as igus GmbH in Cologne, which is financing the collection of altogether 10,000 kilogrammes of plastic waste.
Small, corrosion-free and made of plastic: the plain bearing. An unimposing machine element, it is rarely in the limelight, so a joint initiative started by igus, the motion plastics specialist, awards up to €5,000 to the most exciting and creative plain bearing projects every two years. This year, 480 entries were received from 36 countries.