As part of this year’s semester project, 24 bionics students from Westphalian University of Applied Sciences in Bocholt dealt with the topic of safety. In cooperation with Haake Technik GmbH from Vreden, they developed solutions to increase the safety of people dealing with the increasing automation of work tasks.
After the kick-off event, with contact persons Lars Deibel and Jens Schoppen from the Haake company, the students set to work in small groups to develop innovative minituarised safety contact chains based on the opening principle. In the event of an accident involving man and machine, these prevent injuries through intelligent sensor technology and immediate stopping of the process.
To solve their project task, the students used development tools such as computer-aided design and 3D printers to conduct experiments and produce functional models. In the process, they were able to apply their theoretically learned knowledge and try themselves out as members of a development team.
In the end, five great products were created, which the teams proudly presented to their parents, lecturers, company representatives and other students. In this context, Prof. Dr. Tobias Seidl presented the audience award of the Otto-Spaleck-Stiftung for innovative Technology. The award went to the group that developed the “link chain”. This safety chain is modelled on human joints and can be released all around, at 360 degrees, so that it can even map curved edges. With this minituarisation of the safety chain, Haaek Technik GmbH reaches new areas of aplication that could not be served before.
