17.05.2023 • In an uplifting ceremony on May 11, 2023, the SEW-EURODRIVE Foundation awarded the 2022 Student Award, which is worth 2500 euros, to 21 young academics for their outstanding Diploma and Master’s theses.
As every year at the beginning of May, looking back over the previous year, the SEW-EURODRIVE Foundation presented the Student Awards for outstanding Diploma and Master’s theses. The ceremony was held in the new SEW-EURODRIVE Customer Center in Graben-Neudorf, together with an exciting supporting program.
Following a greeting from host Jürgen Blickle, Managing Partner and CEO of SEW-EURODRIVE and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation, Prof. Fritz Klocke, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, welcomed the guests.
Afterwards, COO Dr. Jörg Hermes presented SEW-EURODRIVE to the invited guests. In atmospheric images and videos, he reviewed the development of the company since it was founded in 1931 and explained how a vision by Ernst Blickle “shaped the DNA of SEW-EURODRIVE today” and became a reality: The modular system originally conceived for gearmotors still runs through the entire SEW-EURODRIVE portfolio. In more than 90 years, SEW-EURODRIVE has grown to become an international technology leader in drive and automation technology and is represented in 54 countries with its own locations. With the architecture of its buildings and its modern production halls, SEW-EURODRIVE is running against the popular “top and flop” saying: “Top on the outside, but also top on the inside”!
Johann Soder, Managing Director of Special Topics, spoke before the next item on the agenda: a guided tour of the South Hall. He explained that the already mentioned modular system approach was being upheld and continued in the company’s modular factory design: In the modern factory halls, the entire production is divided into so-called Smart Factory Units – production modules that are connected by agile assistance systems. With his motto “The future is made out of courage, curiosity, and passion”, he created a clear link to the present event and at the same time paid tribute to the award winners, who have already heralded this future with their top-rated work.
In the South Hall, this future became tangible for everyone. Several of the award winners, who were each allowed to bring an accompanying person, have never been in the middle of production at such a large company. And certainly not in such a modern factory, where you do not have to watch out for forklifts, but for autonomous assistance systems that stop on their own, wait patiently until the visitors step aside, then slowly continue to drive, and only resume their regular speed at a safe distance.
Before the agenda continued in the afternoon with the ERNST BLICKLE lecture and the Student Award ceremony, Prof. Klocke explained the purpose of the Foundation: Promoting young talents and shaping the process of integrating science into industry. The fact that the transformation into society is also working was shown clearly by the fact that the Foundation also welcomed the Mayor of Bruchsal, Cornelia Petzold-Schick, and the Mayor of Graben-Neudorf, Christian Eheim, to the event.
Robotics at the center of the speech
Prof. Johann Kolar from the Board of Directors of the Foundation subsequently announced last year’s winner of the ERNST BLICKLE Prize, Prof. Roland Siegwart, as the keynote speaker: “He explores the limits of the possible to push forward into the impossible and to make the impossible possible.”
Still impressed by the many mobile robots in the South Hall, the multi-award-winning academic and Professor of Autonomous Systems at ETH Zurich whet the audience’s appetite for such developments in his speech: “The next generation of robots will be mobile, networked, intelligent, adaptive, and... right among us.” In his entertaining speech, Prof. Siegwart showed the fascinated guests pictures and videos of several of his study objects with their already amazing skills: They include a walking robot, which can handle rough terrain thanks to sophisticated spring technology in its four leg joints, or a flying robot that can fly omnidirectionally, independently approach different points in the space using visual navigation, and even open doors.
The visionary lecture was therefore the perfect ice-breaker for the subsequent awarding of the Student Awards to the 21 prizewinners from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. At the end, Lea Hansmann, a graduate of RWTH Aachen University, gave an insight into her outstanding Master’s thesis entitled “Development of a Fatigue Model for Human-in-the-Loop Control with Exoskeletons”, as a representative for all the prizewinners. According to her research and calculations, an exoskeleton can adapt to the fatigue of its human wearer.
Thanks to the initiative and commitment of the board members of the SEW-EURODRIVE Foundation and the SEW-EURODRIVE organizational team, it was possible once again to hold the award ceremony in an exciting and formal setting.
You can find more information about the SEW-EURODRIVE Foundation, which was founded by Edeltraut Blickle in 1989, here: