Weiss Robotics, based in Ludwigsburg, manufactures sensitive grippers for powerful industrial robots. The grippers are electrically controlled and can therefore handle particularly fragile objects. This is unique in the industry.

Behind a glass wall, small robots are hard at work. With the utmost precision, the robots grip, lift and place various objects. One picks up four filled glasses at once and places them in a container a metre away. Then the robot turns round and picks up four more glasses. Another transfers very small screws from one plate to another. You can hardly hear any of this. The hard-working robots hum away at a pleasant volume in the entrance hall of Weiss Robotics. Until now, industrial robots have mainly used compressed air for gripping. The grippers from Weiss Robotics, however, are electrically controlled – a significant added value for industrial companies.

Electric grippers with a delicate touch

Weiss Robotics GmbH & Co. KG, based in Ludwigsburg, manufactures grippers for industrial robots and cobots. Cobots are robots that work alongside humans and, compared to industrial robots, can already automate smaller tasks. For example, in a bakery, they can remove bread rolls from the oven and place them on a shop shelf. Weiss Robotics’ electric grippers make it possible to move delicate objects such as young lettuce seedlings, raw eggs and fragile glassware gently from A to B – quickly and precisely, without damaging them. “We see gripping as the sensitive, delicate handling of objects that aren’t particularly stable,” says Managing Director Dr Karsten Weiß. Compressed air grippers, which have so far been used predominantly in industry, lack the necessary delicacy for this.

Analysing images and transmitting data

This sensitivity is achieved through a wealth of data. This includes, amongst other things, camera images that are viewed, analysed and transmitted to the gripper. With additional information on the nature of the material, as well as the size and weight of the objects, the grippers understand how much force they need to apply to each item. The extent to which the grippers spread their fingers also depends on the data fed into the system. Weiss Robotics offers its intelligent grippers in 16 variants. They all combine mechanical capabilities with sensitive, almost human characteristics – a boon for industry and its automation.

Grippers in action in New York

One of the world’s most renowned universities has long recognised this: at Columbia University in New York, research is being carried out into the automation of tomorrow using the specialised grippers from Weiss Robotics. Scientists at Columbia are currently using the grippers for a research project to grip textiles. The aim of the project is to train the grippers to grip fabrics such as cotton, thereby enabling them to fold T-shirts and trousers automatically. If successful, electric grippers could soon be assisting in hospitals or dry-cleaning businesses. The fact that the grippers are being used in research in New York is a great honour for Managing Director Weiß and his company.

At home in the Stuttgart region

Weiss Robotics has strong roots in the Stuttgart region, as many of its customers come from the immediate vicinity: “We are a small company and are strongly focused on the domestic market. We have a clear locational advantage here in the region because we can reach our customers very quickly,” says Weiß. The smart grippers are used in sectors where automation is a top priority. These include companies in the automotive, electrical and pharmaceutical industries. As the grippers can be connected to all well-known manufacturers of industrial robots and cobots, they are in high demand. Managing Director Weiß must therefore constantly weigh up which orders his team can realistically handle.

At the heart of it all: development and production

“We’re lucky to be operating in a growth market. Automation and manufacturing are becoming increasingly important in Germany,” says Managing Director Weiß, who, at the age of 14, won a lifetime sponsorship from Bosch in a young talent competition and was given complete freedom to use the supplier’s workbenches and tools for his tinkering projects. Whilst studying for his A-levels, Weiß won the national “Jugend forscht” competition in 1998; his grippers have been on the market since 2015. Today, his team comprises around 20 employees. Development and manufacturing form the heart of the company. In a small workshop, staff are constantly milling, grinding and wiring the specialised aluminium grippers.

A successful future

After all, business is going well: “Demand for our gripping systems remains strong. Automation is becoming more sophisticated, partly because industry’s demands on highly sensitive materials are increasing,” says Weiß. That is why the company also plans to expand in the Stuttgart region in the long term. Most recently, the Ludwigsburg-based firm recorded double-digit annual growth. Precision grippers will continue to be needed in the future, when fuel cells and batteries are being assembled and dismantled in large numbers. Until then, the robots in the entrance area of Weiss Robotics will continue to hum and bustle away diligently – screw by screw, pane by pane.

JK
Wirtschaftsförderung Region Stuttgart GmbH