Robo activities now under the umbrella brand "Robotics City Hannover"

TheHannover Regionhas developed into a real robotics hotspot in recent years. What began in 2013 with a small project at Johannes-Keppler-Gymnasium in Garbsen has developed into a wide range of robotics topics today, in May 2022, through long-term projects such as the Roberta RegioZentrum. A range that has an appeal throughout Germany. Reason enough to unite the robotics activities of the Hannover Region under a common umbrella brand - Robotics City.

Today, Thursday, May 18, 2022, Regional President Steffen Krach, together with Stefan Muhle, State Secretary in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Digitalization, Prof. Dr. Julia Gillen, Vice President for Teaching and Studies at Leibniz Universität Hannover and the originators of the term Dr. Jens Kotlarski, Managing Director of ROBCORE GmbH and Philipp Becker, Managing Director of Vision Lasertechnik GmbH, officially unveiled the umbrella brand "Robotics City Hannover". Jens Kotlarski, Managing Director of ROBCORE GmbH, and Philipp Becker, Managing Director of Vision Lasertechnik GmbH, officially unveiled the "Robotics City Hannover" umbrella brand: "The Hannover Region is now a focal point for robotics in Lower Saxony and beyond," saidRegional President Steffen Krach. We have robotics institutes here with an international reputation, successful robotics projects for schools and students and robotics companies with innovative pioneering products. These are all topics that are worth highlighting." The Regional President goes on to emphasize: "However, Robotics City Hannover cannot be achieved on its own." "A Robotics City with appeal can only be created with strong partners from business and science."

In addition to robotics institutes with an international reputation, the Hannover Region is home to various companies with a focus on robotics that have brought absolutely pioneering products onto the market in recent years. Some of them have even emerged as direct spin-offs from the region's universities. In addition, there are various institutions, non-profit organizations and networks that bundle robotics activities from the Hannover Region and the whole of Lower Saxony and thus have a reach beyond the state borders. Physical robotics learning locations at the site invite various target groups to experience robotics technology live and to familiarize themselves with it in workshops and training courses.

For State SecretaryStefan Muhleist, Robotics City Hannover is a project with nationwide appeal: "The term Industry 4.0, i.e. digitally networked production, was coined in Hannover in 2011. Even back then, robotics played a central role alongside digitalization. Since then, the Hannover Region has developed into a real hotspot for robotics with strong players from science and industry and has earned an excellent reputation both nationally and internationally. I am delighted that now, a good 10 years after the term "Industry 4.0" was introduced, we are giving the go-ahead for the "Robotics City Hannover" competence cluster and, in addition to the term, emphasizing the shared understanding of the entire Hannover Region for the importance of this forward-looking topic."

Prof. Dr. Julia Gillen, Vice President for Teaching and Studies at Leibniz University Hannover, emphasizes the importance of Hannover as a research location for the project: "Innovative robotics projects are carried out at Leibniz University in research, teaching and teacher training. We are delighted that we have been able to develop an innovative teaching concept via the robot factory at Leibniz Universität in order to train students, pupils and our partners from industry in the field of intelligent robotics. Our aim is to combine study, research and business. In August 2021, the Robotics Competence Center at the Leibniz School of Education also recently began its work. It coordinates the state-wide activities to qualify teachers for various robotics systems at the three locations in Hanover (Leibniz University), Osnabrück (Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences and Arts) and Oldenburg (Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and Jade University of Applied Sciences)."

Philipp Becker, Managing Director of Vision Lasertechnik GmbH, is one of the two namesakes of Robotics City Hanonver together with Dr. Jens Kotlarski: "We can do a lot and we do a lot. It's time we talked about it too. Robotics, high-tech and modern technology are not only found in the urban centers of Berlin, Leipzig and Munich. An impressive cluster of teaching, research and industry has developed in the Hannover Region that has global appeal. The foundations have been laid - it is now up to us to expand and strengthen this further."

Dr. Jens Kotlarski, Managing Director of ROBCORE GmbH, is the namesake of the umbrella brand: "When Philipp Becker and I launched #roboticscityhannover, our main aim was to put the spotlight on the many "hidden champions" of robotics in and around Hanover, to strengthen the discourse among them and to bundle the many innovators in Hanover into a WE. Now it is up to all of us to pull together and develop Robotics City Hannover into a Robotics Nation Germany. The potential is undoubtedly there."

In keeping with the establishment of the umbrella brand, there is once again something to celebrate for robotics activities in the Hannover Region - nothing less than the German Championship and the associated qualification for the European and World Championships in RoboCup Junior. The Roberta RegioZentrum Hannover has been funded by the Hannover Region since 2013, making it the oldest robotics education project of the Hannover Region's economic and employment promotion agency. After winning the world championship titles in Sydney in 2019 and in the online challenge in RoboCup Junior in 2021, the teams from the Hannover Region once again secured championship and runner-up titles at the German Championships in Kassel at the end of April.

In the Maze category, the winning team qualified for the World Championships in Bangkok in July, while the runners-up will take part in the European Championships in Portugal in June. The same applies to the runners-up in the Soccer 2:2 category.

All milestones and a detailed timeline of robotics activities in the Hannover Region are summarized under the following link:Robotics activities in the Hannover Region