AUTOMATICA 2012 shows solutions

Automation is advancing rapidly in medical engineering. The reason is that assembly and handling technology, robotics and machine vision provide considerable advantages for these innovative industries with respect to productivity, precision and quality. Visitors to AUTOMATICA 2012, which will take place on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Centre from 22 until 25 May 2011, will obtain an overview of how robots, assembly systems and machine vision as well as numerous automation components are used in the service of health.

Automation technology is being used increasingly in the medical, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries. It is helping these innovative industries to launch products on the market more quickly and achieve more economic production. Robot manufactures and other automation providers have been concentrating on the multifaceted needs of these industries for years. They can provide sophisticated technologies today. On one hand, they provide multiaxle robot solutions for grinding and polishing of implants. On the other hand, they also provide simpler but usually highly precise automation units. Corresponding sensors, grippers and vision systems are also available, which visitors to AUTOMATICA 2012 can see for themselves on site.

Engineer Dr. Andreas Pot, Group Leader of Intralogistics at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation (IPA) in Stuttgart, confirmed the availability of suitable robots and automation components for use in the medical, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries. He distinguishes two kinds of requirements, which must be fulfilled depending on use. "Many robots must be suitable for production-related use under clean room conditions, in other words, strict guidelines with respect to materials used and particles released. Strict hygiene requirements apply to other uses, such as we know from the foodstuffs industry. These are both no problem for robot technology. Many companies provide especially designed models, which can also be certified correspondingly."