Press releases and news

Is the driver tired or even asleep? Cameras in the vehicle’s interior can already monitor this. Especially in the case of automated driving, interior cameras are important and prescribed by law. A new system developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB is the world’s first to be able to use image data to draw conclusions about the driver’s activity and analyze how quickly they would be able to take control of the vehicle.

In 2018, the ROBDEKON competence center (robotic systems for decontamination in hazardous environments) started operations. After three years of work, a regular review was due - on this occasion, the ROBDEKON partners in Karlsruhe and Bremen presented the state of their developed technology and gave live demonstrations of the teleoperated, semi-autonomous and autonomous systems they are researching.

A sustainable society with climate-neutral processes requires significant adjustments in the value chains, which are only possible through innovations. Seven Fraunhofer Institutes are pooling their expertise in the lighthouse project "Waste4Future" to develop new solutions for this goal, from the raw material base to material flows and process engineering right to the end of a product's life cycle. In particular, they want to increase energy and resource efficiency in the use of plastics and thus pave the way for a chemical industry that requires fewer fossil raw materials and produces fewer emissions

How can automotive production remain competitive in times of ever greater diversity of variants and ever faster product cycles? The new study "At the end of the line - How automakers can embrace flexible production" sees the solution, at least for the premium segment, in intelligently networked, self-organizing production. This means rethinking the pearl chain principle established today. The effort could pay for itself within a very short time, as the study authors from Strategy& Deutschland, the strategy consultancy of PwC, and the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB write.

The new contact point for all matters concerning the Smart City project "digital.interkommunal" of the municipality of Kalletal and the Old Hanseatic City of Lemgo has opened. The project office is located in Lemgo's Mittelstraße. From there, project manager Nicole Baeumer and her team will be in contact not only with the political bodies and administrations, but above all with citizens and other interest groups.

Service robots can help ensure that buildings and means of transport are cleaned and disinfected regularly and with consistently high quality. Since October 2020, twelve institutions of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have been working on the development of new technologies for this field of application. Led by Fraunhofer IPA, the partners are pooling their expertise in the “Mobile Disinfection" (MobDi) research project to contribute to a safe “New Normal” in times of pandemic. The project is part of the »Fraunhofer vs. Corona« action program.

The Inclusion Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia is awarded every two years and in 2020 was endowed with a total of 30,000 euros. A total of three prizes were awarded for the main topic "Participation through Digitalization". The assistance system from Fraunhofer IOSB-INA in Lemgo, which was developed together with wertkreis Gütersloh gGmbH, was able to prevail among the 144 applicant projects. The multifunctional, interactive workstation to support manual assembly processes was able to secure third place and once again prove that technological innovations in the context of the digital transformation can lead to numerous new added values and business models, but also perspectives and opportunities.

Germany holds the EU Council Presidency until the end of December. In an ambitious program, Germany has set itself the goal of addressing the issues of climate change and the protection of cultural heritage, among others. However, there is still a lack of reliable data and scientific studies on how and, above all, which future extreme weather events will affect our cultural heritage in the various regions of Germany and what measures we can take to protect our cultural heritage. Over the next three years, researchers will investigate this for the first time for Germany in the BMBF-funded project »KERES«. The research project is coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg together with the Fraunhofer EU Office in Brussels.

What do companies in the SME sector expect from Industry 4.0? Where do they hope for advantages, where are there tangible and concrete benefits? These questions are difficult to answer without first investing large sums in equipment and personnel. This is because existing plants, i.e. machines in which investments were made in the past and which are still performing their service perfectly, often do not provide any data for control and condition monitoring. With the so-called "I4.0 retrofit", these machines can be upgraded for Industrie 4.0 applications in order to be operated more safely, efficiently, flexibly and transparently. To this end, Fraunhofer IOSB-INA and the VDMA have for the first time written a guide that provides important assistance, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, in the digitization of their existing machines.

A new research group of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is developing underwater applications at the Baltic Sea for a more compatible use of the seas by humans. In a first project, the researchers are devoting themselves to the topic of microplastics in the oceans.