Family-owned company uses innovation to create automated handling of sheet metal parts

The German company Trumpf is one out of the 64 companies that has been selected for the European project ROBOTT-NET.

Trumpf offers production solutions in the machine tool, laser and electronics sectors.

The company has existed since 1923 and was founded as a series of mechanical workshops. Since then Trumpf has developed into a global high-tech company.

Innovative strength and diversification plays an important role to the German company, which is also the case for Trumpfs voucher project, that investigates in sorting and stacking sheet metal parts.

- Sheet metal parts have a high variety and are usually cut out from a large sheet, containing different orders and parts. Those different parts need to be sorted and stacked in separate groups depending on their following processes, says product manager at Trumpf Dennis Specht.

In the voucher project Trumpfs aim is to determine, whether an automated handling is possible for a large variety of sheet metal parts.

- The goal with the project is to examine the limits of current computer vision and grasping technologies for handling sheet metal parts, says Dennis Specht.

During the project Trumpf has had contribution from Fraunhofer IPA and Danish Technological Institute.

- With the ROBOTT-NET voucher we have achieved to build a system that can actually detect and grasp objects in a bin with multiple different parts, says project manager at DTI Denmark, Carsten Panch Isaksen.

Based on this knowledge Trumpf will create a roadmap to develop and install a prototype robot cell for automated sheet metal handling. If the prototype proves to be reliable, fully automated machines will become a lot more attractive because of the possibility of automatic loading from bulk.

Check out the Trumpf voucher page