The Learning Factory Fallenbrunnen is a learning and demonstration center for production and production-related application fields for research and knowledge transfer in the environment of Industry 4.0 at IWT. It was financially supported by the Zeppelin Foundation of the city of Friedrichshafen.

The range of services offered by the Fallenbrunnen Learning Factory includes teaching and further education, applied research and specialist lectures. It is aimed at schools and universities, companies, and private individuals. The funding of projects in the fields of digitization and robotics made it possible to build up a network with many synergies for the participants, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.

In addition, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) offers the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM). This federal funding enables SMEs to work on the development of innovative product ideas. The Fallenbrunnen learning factory is currently setting up two ZIM competence networks in the fields of robotics and digitalization in the maritime industry.

Cooperations between companies, research institutions and universities have a decisive advantage – the development of new services, processes and products is accelerated and driven forward in a more targeted manner. Innovative ideas are considered from many angles and put into practice quickly and efficiently through cooperative research,including all aspects contributing to a successful market outcome.
The industry and research projects are based on our focus areas: Digitization & Visualization, and Robotics.

Do you have an idea for an industry or research project? Let us work on it together and turn the project idea into reality. New project ideas are always welcome. We look forward to hearing from you!

You have a project idea and don’t know which funding opportunities are available for your project idea and how you should proceed in concrete terms? We are happy to provide you with detailed, individual advice, so that you know how to proceed and receive the appropriate funding to realize your project.

Feel free to contact us! We look forward to supporting you in the funding of your project.

In times of a shortage of skilled workers and increasing competition from abroad, the use of robots is essential for the German economy to remain competitive on the market. When it comes to robots as direct assistance for humans, we speak of collaborative robots (cobots). They have the ability to work with humans at the same time on the same workpiece. We, at IWT, have specialized in collaborative robotics. On site in our production and technology center we are equipped with the corresponding hardware (stationary as well as mobile robots). We are happy to support and advise you on the following topics:

• Consulting for the identification of (collaborative) robotics approaches
• Feasibility studies concerning (collaborative) robotics applications
• Project and time planning of (collaborative) robotics applications
• Professional implementation of (collaborative) robotics applications
• Development and testing of ideas and applications with the robots of the IWT
• Acceptance and usability tests as well as training and further quailification of employees in (collaborative) robotics

SmartShip

With SmartShip, IWT currently operates a research and development network in the field of digitalization in the maritime industry. The goal of the network is to bundle the technical competencies of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), thus enabling the development of a common product or a cooperative service.

Strategic orientation of the network

Up to now, recreational boating mainly uses analogue technologies. In line with the “Maritime Agenda 2025”, the network partners of SmartShip would like to contribute to making certain elements of shipping digital in the future. To this end, the following R&D projects will initially be implemented in the network on the basis of a universal retrofittable digital platform: Connected Ship, Safety and Service & Maintenance.

Further projects within the network are planned and ideas are welcome.

Feel free to visit SmartShip at: www.smartship-netzwerk.de

VOLKER

The IWT currently operates a research and development network in the field of robotics: VOLKER. The aim of the network is to bundle the technical competences of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to help generate a common product or a cooperative service.

Strategic orientation of the network

The vision of VOLKER (Visually Oriented Easily Cotrollable Robot) is to develop a retrofittable kit for all types of robots, consisting of a control computer and 2D/3D camera. With VOLKER any robot can be made collaborative, and the user is enabled to easily implement 3D applications (in combination with a camera system, e.g., a pick-and-place application with object recognition) without programming knowledge.

Feel free to visit VOLKER at: www.volker-netzwerk.de