Ideas from students' minds rarely reach the market in this country. This expert finding is often heard in Germany. A current example from the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen shows how such a path can lead to the goal: the founding project “Klag Robotics”.
This name initially stands for the THMgraduate Henrik Klag, who was already very interested in innovative production automation as a student of mechanical engineering and mechatronics on the Friedberg campus. In addition, Klag Robotics describes a project for the “development of optimized robot controls for the tested component provision in the high-speed area,” which is funded by the state of Hesse with around one million euros through the “Distr@l” programme to strengthen digitalization.
The yes to this financial support marks another key moment in the start-up history, which has already had some notable successes. At “Ideeco”, the THM’s founding competition, the team consisting of Henrik Klag, Markus Möglich and Julian Scheld impressed the jury and audience in 2021 and won two prizes. An EXIST start-up grant from the Federal Ministry of Economics supported the Further course, which has already borne fruit in the form of several patent applications.
In the current project phase - Tim Horst and Max Schmidt have joined as reinforcements - the aim is to create a practical alternative to conventional machine programmeming. The core of the solution is a control system based on artificial intelligence that is tailored to the practical needs of small and medium-sized companies. Many of these companies can hardly find any staff to separate, sort and package some of the complex components. This explains their great interest in a system that is suitable for smaller robot systems and batch sizes and can automate upstream manual work steps with high reliability.
As a project and research group, the future founders at the THMcampus Friedberg are currently working on equipping robots and feeding systems with a AI that makes their control "capable of learning" and directs the processes with situation -related commands. The lightning -fast optical testing of the components is a performance component of central importance. But the in-house development of robot hardware is also part of the work programme of Klag Robotics. Companies from the Middle Hesse and Vogelsberg region are included in the development phase as "pilot partners". The engineering scientist Prof. Dr. Udo Fiedler from Department Business Administration and Engineering and Christian Abt, who is committed to the THMlearning factory and at the Ideaco, are supported by the start-up team.
The company is planned to be founded in the second half of 2025, when the project work as part of the Distr@l funding will be completed. Then Klag Robotics wants to win small and medium-sized companies as customers with market-ready robot systems. The team is primarily focusing on the medical technology, mechanical engineering and packaging industries.