robolink project. igus® focuses on the young

igus® has been intensely engaging engineering students for years and supports them through its university platform Y. E. S (Young Engineers Support). Through the constant search for intelligent and creative minds, among others, beta testers could be obtained for the robolink project.

robolink is the product name of a multiple axis joint made from tribopolymers, which is currently being developed by igus® with the aim of soon offering a mechanical robot kit for different applications.

Since April this year, a very special collaboration between igus® and the universities of Wuppertal and Saarland has taken roots.
Thereby 4 teams of students made it their task to conceive, design and construct a drive for a multi-axis articulated arm consisting of 2 robolink joints. The aim was to control the robolink by a suitable drive, whereby gear, motor, lever, housing ... had to be developed by themselves. The two universities divided the task between themselves, so that the Wuppertal mechanical engineers took over the development of the transmission and fellow students in Saarland undertook the design and manufacture of the housing.

After about 3 months of planning and development, the first presentation took place on 13/07/2010 at igus® in Cologne. In a pleasant atmosphere, the four teams presented their concepts in the form of posters and PowerPoint presentations. The initial descriptive models were astonishing. Subsequently, 15 igus® development engineers critically assessed the individual projects and supported all the teams with advice, expertise, experience and insights from their own long-standing practice in research and development. Here, the potential weaknesses and pitfalls in their concepts were pointed out to the budding designers, so that the implementation of their projects was no longer a problem.

Thus the next phase - the final sprint - got started. In this phase, the students used the lecture-free time to materialize their concepts and build an initial prototype.
At the next meeting in 3 months, the drives should be functional and presented in their final versions and thoroughly tested by the professors, fellow students and the igus® staff of the robolink department.