Did you know that you wanted to be involved in robotics from an early age?
I’ve always been interested in technology and when I got to university, I studied computer science with a strong focus on robotics. By the time I completed my bachelor’s degree, I was already really interested in human-robot collaboration, and it’s now become an absolute passion for me. I started with IML over 10 years ago as a student researcher and have been here through both my master’s degree as well as my doctorate in mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Dortmund. I’ve loved the support IML has given me and the infrastructure here for a researcher is simply fantastic.

What‘s Fraunhofer IML’s mission?
We are one of approximately 80 institutes within the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. The ‘IML’ stands for ‘Institute for Material Flow and Logistics’. We were founded in 1981 and today we have almost 400 scientists as well as 250 doctoral candidates. We want to be seen as the partner of choice for integrated logistics research. We work in all fields of internal and external logistics and – in keeping with the overall Fraunhofer concept – we develop solutions to problems for immediate use in business on the one hand, but also conduct initial research for periods of two to five years, and in some cases, even longer. When I say logistics, this is mainly involving robots and with a particular focus on intralogistics, e.g., looking at how materials arrive at the production line or how we get things from one warehouse to another. It’s applied research – working with companies both in the Dortmund area and all across Germany and Europe on real solutions that solve their problems. Ultimately, we want to transfer the knowledge into the companies’ factories. Fraunhofer IML is also a key supporter of ‘Digital Hub Logistics’ providing room for start-up initiatives to develop digital products and business models.

Tell us more about your passion for human-robot collaboration.
As I said, I’m deeply interested in human-robot collaboration within Industry 4.0. User interfaces. How robots recognise speech and respond to social behaviour. And how robots adjust to people. Yes, the robot can run processes in a factory, but the human needs to feel comfortable around the robot – I never want to see a world where only so-called dark factories exist, though I can see cases where we might have operators remotely assisting a robot. We can also expand the use of sensors to better understand how humans behave around robots and this will ultimately help us create a safer workplace. One which takes the physical strain away from the human and also helps address mental health issues for the workforce.

When it comes to agile production do you think that the challenges are the same across Europe?
At a macro level yes, I think we are all trying to deal with the same themes. Everyone needs to digitise their processes, everyone needs to figure out how they can afford to buy a particular system, and everyone needs to determine who is going to work with the robots. At a more local level, for me at least, I see big differences based on the size of the company involved. At an SME level, companies are struggling to get an overview of what is out there and how they can optimize their processes. They are at a much earlier stage of development so we need to understand how we can demonstrate what’s possible to them and I think that the DIH² Transfer Technology Experiment (TTE) program can play a role here in helping us show real solutions.

Indeed, our program funded 26 TTE consortia to support our goal of advancing factories through robotics. How did you go about finding suitable candidates?
We have booths at quite a few trade fairs where we typically showcase technology that we have helped develop. We have also established local networks for SMEs where we share newsletters and participate at events to show our infrastructure. These sorts of activities really allow us to bond with SMEs and they help us pinpoint when they will need help. It’s really important to establish that personal connection with people if we’re going to succeed.

You supported the CoRoFarm TTE project – can you explain to us what that was about?
It’s about black soldier fly larvae! More specifically about converting the larvae into protein for animal feed which is a more environmentally friendly source of protein compared to conventional feeds such as soya or fish meal, both of which have a significant environment impact. Most of the work in the manufacturing facility has so far been done manually, so the proposed solution aimed to introduce a high level of automation and scalability using modular containerised robots. A linear robot would sit in the centre of an ISO container handling the breeding boxes and also serving the stations filling and emptying the boxes. This could then be scaled by adding multiple boxes. There would also be a task list app that would allow workers in the factory to add tasks for the robot to perform, that would for example instruct the robot to pick a breeding box from a particular stack and then instruct it to send it to a specific location. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic put a lot of pressure on the SME and they went into liquidation, so we didn’t manage to get all the way through to the end.

That’s a shame. Do you think there is still potential in what they wanted to achieve?
Absolutely. I still believe that it’s a good business idea and the major challenge of how we feed growing populations is definitely not going away. Although we might not have a product to take to market, there is still a lot of learnings that we can take from CoRoFarm, and those learnings are in many ways a ‘success story’. The technology provider is very connected to the research environment so I know they have learned a lot here that can be reused, and from our perspective at IML we also learned a lot. Covid was hard and it showed us that it’s important to keep close connections and not take them for granted.

What have you personally enjoyed about being part of DIH²?
I’ve really enjoyed how we are all focused on the same topic, and we are all driving to the same goal. This really helps create strong bonds across the partners. I’m often involved with very large research projects, and they are very different to DIH² as they cover many different aspects of research under one large umbrella. In those projects it inevitably means that the commitment level of the different partners varies quite significantly, whereas in DIH² I’ve been really impressed by the high-level of commitment that I see from all the partners and now the new Network members as well. This is all because of that singular focus that we have.

What sort of legacy do you hope for from DIH²?
I’d love to see the short-term mobility program continue – it’s a really amazing opportunity for those that get to go on it, and it’s also great for the hosts as well. But first and foremost, I hope that that the Network continues to grow and keep to its mission. The work that we’ve done so far is important and there is far more we can do – for example I’d really like us to get involved with the debate on standardisation. Our members have a valuable contribution to make to this.