The Hannover Region's commitment to robotics

© Roberta RegioZentrum Hannover

At Johannes-Keppler-Gymnasium in Garbsen, the first foundations are laid for today's Roberta RegioZentrum Hannover. Pupils are given the opportunity to demonstrate their technical skills in inter-class and inter-school robotics competitions. This is the first time that the Hannover Region has supported a project to promote young robotics talent with the aim of getting girls and boys interested in the technology at an early age, allaying their fears and building up their self-confidence in dealing with robotics.

www.roberta-hannover.de

© Ina May

Pupils from the Roberta RegioZentrum Hannover are taking part in the IdeenExpo for the first time and presenting their growing range of services to a broad public at the Hannover Region stand.

The Hannover Region is extending its robotics activities to the university sector. In 2015, it supported the LUHbots, the student team from Leibniz Universität Hannover, which regularly takes part in national and international mobile robotics competitions, for the first time.

Together with the Hanover Chamber of Industry and Commerce, a stand will be set up at the IdeenExpo 2015 where both pupils from the Roberta RegioZentrum and students will present their robots to demonstrate the development opportunities from school to university.

Robot factory

The promotion of young robotics talent is being strategically developed further. Together with Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH), the "roboterfabrik" will be founded in 2016 - a place of learning where modern robotics can be experienced and made accessible to various target groups.

An integrated and consistent training program is intended to bridge the gap between school and robotics training at LUH and to enable strategic links with industry through cooperation with companies.

www.roboterfabrik.uni-hannover.de

Hanover Region

Further collaborations in the field of robotics are being established with vocational schools in the Hanover region in order to increase the quality of training and provide attractive robotics-related offers for vocational training in Lower Saxony.

At the joint stand of the IHK, LUH and Hannover Region at the IdeenExpo 2017, specific study and training opportunities will be presented on the sensitive robot from the company Franka Emika. The concept of an "IHK certificate course in robotics" and the sustainable use of robotics in vocational schools will also be presented to the public for the first time.

Institute for Mechatronic Systems, Leibniz Universität Hannover

"Understanding robotics through experience in virtual training worlds"

The roboterfabrik approach is being further developed and linked with other initiatives based in the Hannover Region, such as the APITSLab in the field of serious games

In 2018, the company forward ttc was awarded the contract for its project "Understanding robotics through experience in virtual training worlds" with the aim of designing and implementing needs-based training measures on robotics and automation technology in the form of virtual training worlds. For example, participants immerse themselves in virtual production facilities in order to interact with the technology. In this way, knowledge about robotics can be made available to a wide range of people in an economical way and conveyed at first hand.

Student Accelerator: Robotics and Automation

The promotion of spin-offs in the field of robotics has also been a field of action for the Hannover Region since 2018. At the Mechatronics Center of Leibniz Universität Hannover, the Entrepreneurship Tutorial - Student Accelerator: Robotics and Automation was launched for the first time, enabling students to test and advance their own start-up ideas during their studies.

© Robokind

Driven by the idea of a consistent and modern robotics training concept, the Robokind Foundation was established in 2018. The founder is the then Head of the Institute for Control Engineering at Leibniz Universität Hannover, Prof. Dr. Sami Haddadin.

The Hannover Region supports the establishment of the foundation with the aim of further developing the activities of the robot factory at LUH into a sustainable building block for modern robotics education in the Hannover Region and, in the medium term, throughout Lower Saxony.

The main objectives are the networking and coordination of the main players and the development of innovative robotics training and teaching concepts for students, teachers, pupils, vocational school pupils and specialists. https://robokind. de

Institute of Automatic Control, Leibniz Universität Hannover

The diversity that the Hannover Region now has to offer in the field of robotics will be particularly visible at the IdeenExpo 2019. At the joint stand of the Hannover Region and IHK, there will be a variety of hands-on activities from the Roberta RegioZentrum, the roboterfabrik and forward ttc.

In addition, this year's IdeenExpo offers a very special highlight: The IHK certificate "User for collaborative robots", developed jointly by the Robokind Foundation, BBS Neustadt am Rübenberge and IHK Hannover, has been completed and the first trainees to receive this certificate will be celebrated at IdeenExpo.

The Hannover Region is participating for the first time in the organization of the Junior RoboCup European Championship, one of the largest robotics competitions in the world. As Europe's largest youth event for science and technology, IdeenExpo 2019 offers the ideal setting for this. Under the auspices of IdeenExpo GmbH, the event will be held in Hanover for the first time with great success.

© Ina May

This is what world champions look like: The student team from the Roberta RegioZentrum wins the world championship title at the Junior RoboCup tournament in Australia in the Rescue Maze category. The icing on the cake of previous competition successes and a huge success for the Roberta RegioZentrum Hannover, which was founded in 2013.

The run of success continues. Roberta RegioZentrum teams win more European and world championship titles by 2022.

2019 saw the launch of the project "Cost-effective automation for small companies: CoBots in production", which is being carried out by TEWISS - Technik und Wissen GmbH. The project deals with the introduction of (partial) automation in small and medium-sized production companies by integrating collaborative robots (CoBots) into production processes.

The aim is therefore not only to impart knowledge about new robot technologies, but also the targeted application of the technology in your own company and the associated possibilities and limitations.

Robotics is becoming more and more of a topic that is also becoming popular with the general public. In 2019, the region joined forces with Hannoverimpuls to launch the "Robotics MeetUp" series of events, where people interested in robotics from science and industry can come together and exchange ideas on various topics. The MeetUp offers a platform where ideas can be discussed and new impressions gained.

© Robokind

The activities of the Robokind Foundation continue to gather pace. 2019 saw the launch of the "Robonatives Initiative" project, the high-tech education offensive in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence, financed proportionally from EU, state and regional funds. The aim is to pursue a sustainable and long-term strategy for skilled workers to strengthen the Hannover Region and the state of Lower Saxony.

By establishing a regional Robonatives network and identifying further locations for robot factories, robotics and AI are to be made accessible to a broad public and the robot factory approach at the LUH is to be taken further into Lower Saxony. The development and testing of target group-specific robotics curricula with IHK certification based on the model of the IHK certificate course "User for collaborative robots" is also central. The project is thus laying the foundations for the future competitiveness of key industries in the Hanover region, the Leine-Weser area and Lower Saxony.

The success of the robotics projects supported by the Hannover Region is increasingly being recognized by the public:

In 2020, theRobertaRegioZentrum and the roboterfabrik at LUHwill be awarded the title "Digitaler Ort Niedersachsen" ("Digital Place Lower Saxony")withtheir teams of pupils and students.
https://roberta-hannover.de/robotik-initiative-als-digitaler-ort-niedersachsen-ausgezeichnet

A few months later, the RobokindFoundation and its Robonatives initiativealso receivedthe"Digitaler Ort Niedersachsen" award, which is presented by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs to projects that promote digitalization in Lower Saxony in a special way.https://robokind.de/robonatives-initiative-erhaelt-auszeichnung-digitaler-ort-niedersachsen/

In summer 2021, the studentsfrom the Roberta RegioCenter Hannover successfullydefended their title and becameworld champions for the second time at the RoboCup Junior, which was held online for the first time, following their top performance in Sydney in 2019. In addition,they wonarunner-up world championship title, a third place and a 6th place among all team victories. The joy is immense and the world champions and winning teams are celebrated with a reception in the HDI Arena.
https://roberta-hannover.de/weltmeisterlicher-empfang-fuer-roboter-nachwuchs

The success story continues: In fall 2021, the RobokindFoundation, in cooperation with the robot factoryat Leibniz Universität Hannover, the Hannover Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Hannover Region,received the Lower SaxonyInnovation Award 2021 inthe Cooperation category for the Robonatives Initiative project. The celebrations took place at the Landesmuseum Hannover, where the award, which is under the patronage of Minister of Economic Affairs Dr. Althusmann and Minister of Science Thümler, was presented.
https://robokind.de/die-robonatives-initiative-gewinnt-den-innovationspreis-2021-in-der-kategorie-kooperation/

To further support small and medium-sized companies from the manufacturing industry, a seminar room and a test area with cobots and grippers from various manufacturers will be provided on the premises of the Garbsen mechanical engineering campus. This cobot experimental laboratory will create a manufacturer-neutral test room in which low-threshold workshops can be held and in which employees of manufacturing SMEs can be motivated and qualified by employees of various robotics institutes for the implementation of cobot applications.

© robokind

As part of the Robokind Foundation's Robonatives initiative, further robotics locations in Lower Saxony are being identified and, with the help of various cooperation partners, new robot factories with an industry focus are being set up within a short space of time, following the example of the robot factory at LUH.

The ZeRiG - Center for Robotics in Healthcare - is being established as a new location in Hanover at the KRH Nordstadt Hospital, where the Robokind Foundation, in cooperation with the neurosurgery department, aims to advance the topic of medical and nursing robotics. Here, too, the Hannover Region is providing support as a strategic cooperation partner. Further locations are at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Jade University Wilhelmshaven.

© Robokind Foundation

The "TROIA 1 Tactile Robotics in the Medical and Nursing Work Environment" project, which will be carried out by the Robokind Foundation from the end of 2021 to the end of 2022, is a targeted, industry-specific expansion of robotics training activities at the site.

Building on the experience gained from the Robonatives initiative, a Robonatives network focusing on the healthcare sector will be initiated, specific needs of the target groups in the healthcare sector will be identified and training courses for medical and nursing professionals, trainees and students will be developed and tested.

The project thus contributes to securing skilled workers within one of the central leading industries in the Hanover region, the Leine-Weser area and the whole of Lower Saxony. The Center for Robotics in Healthcare (ZeRiG) offers the ideal training location for this

https://robokind.de/projekte/zerig-zentrum-fuer-robotik-im-gesundheitswesen/