Hanover Fair
Schunk receives the Hermes Award 2024
Schunk was presented with the Hermes Award for an AI-based project during the opening ceremony of the Hannover Messe on April 21, 2024. Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Research, presented the award in the presence of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
The jury, chaired by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, awarded the prize to the 2D Grasping Kit project. The application kit consists of a camera with lens, an industrial PC, AI software and an application-specific gripper. The innovation lies in the generic, AI-based modeling of component variants and the transfer to a smaller training data set. This reduces training times for recognition. The intuitive user interface enables the reliable handling of different, randomly arranged parts from a conveyor belt, tray or supply table - even with changing light, color or background conditions. This means that recurring sorting or logistics tasks can be automated with little effort.
Easy handling and robustness of the development are convincing
"The future of supplying people and industry in our country lies in automation. Only with sustainable innovations, especially for production and logistics, can we successfully master the economic and social challenges of tomorrow," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. "From the jury's point of view, the decision to award the prize to the 2D Grasping Kit was based not only on its ease of use but also on the robustness of the development for many of the upcoming automation solutions. On behalf of the entire jury, I would like to congratulate you on winning the Hermes Award 2024!"
Hermes Award
For more than 20 years, Deutsche Messe AG has honored a company with the Hermes Award every year at the Hannover Messe. This is the most important international industry prize. The prize is awarded to a product or solution with a high degree of technological innovation. Market maturity is an important criterion.
Hanover Fair
Hannover Messe is the world's leading trade fair for industry. Its main theme "Energizing a Sustainable Industry" brings together exhibiting companies from the mechanical engineering, electrical and digital industries as well as the energy sector to present solutions for the production and energy supply of the future. The top themes include Industry 4.0/Manufacturing-X, energy for industry, digitalization/artificial intelligence and machine learning, CO2-neutral production as well as hydrogen and fuel cells. Conferences and forums round off the program. The next edition will be held from April 22 to 26, 2024. Norway is the partner country.
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