An overview of our project history – customer-specific solutions

Deep-freeze vending machine

Seco's frozen vending machine, the seco°mat, has a digital control unit. It enables operators to offer various payment systems such as EC, credit card, RFID, and ApplePay. The display can also be used for digital advertising. The customer has access to a shopping cart function and digital information fields for specifying allergens and ingredients. The APIRO modular gearbox system solved several problems at the same time: - Maintenance effort was minimised - Service life was maximised - Costs were much less than those for comparable kinematics. - The strong worm gear allowed cooling area opening to be integrated into the process, eliminating another mechanism.

The challenge of this project was finding a solution for an existing system. Retrofit projects often leave little scope for standardised solutions. The APIRO system was thus integrated into the machine housing.

3D printer for house facades

Amsterdam-based DUS Architects has started the KamerMaker project, which involves creating entire houses out of plastic waste. It started the project with some industrial partners, such as Henkel and igus, with whom it regranulates plastic waste and uses it to print house components in a shipping container. The components can have a total volume of 2x2x3m and are made entirely of recycled plastic waste. The idea is to send these mobile 3D printers to the world's recycling centres. A room linear robot with stepper motor technology was used. The technical challenges included ensuring shipping container straightness, finding a corrosion-resistant, lightweight structure, and safely reusing plastic waste in the process.

The room linear robot for the 3D printer had to be assembled in the shipping container and programmed on site with a non-igus-internal control system.

Automated earthworm farming

SUPERWURM uses automation to raise earthworms economically in Germany. Component robustness and cost play a critical role. So igus components were used in various applications early on. Properties such as dirt resistance, robustness, and freedom from corrosion played a major role.

The challenge was to overcome adverse circumstances: dirt, humidity, FDA conformity requirements, possible component corrosion, etc.
The dimensions and the linear robot were planned and service life calculated for the guarantee. The energy chains were also planned and integration monitored on site.

In-house energy chain link assembly

In the application, the Delta robot sucks in plastic components and places them in a holder. The next step is to assemble individual components. The challenge in this application is precise camera data processing. The robot has a pick cycle time of one to two seconds. The components are shaken randomly.

This was a top-level project: machine project planning including camera technology and control system, machine housing, CE marking, documentation, operating instructions, etc. It created a plug-and-play solution for a quick start to an automation project.