An independent jury under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wahlster, who heads the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), has nominated the five finalists for the 2011 Hermes Award. Rated as one of the world's most prestigious prizes for technological achievement, the Award will be presented at the opening ceremony for Hannover Messe 2011 on 3 April 2011. "Despite the large number of very different innovations submitted for this year's Award, all the products nominated by the jury are notable for their commitment to reliability and the responsible use of resources. I am pleased to note that this year for the first time the list of five nominees includes two foreign companies. This can only serve to enhance the international standing of the Hermes Award", says Wahlster. The following five companies have been nominated for the 2011 prize awarded by Hannover Messe (listed here in alphabetical order): FerRobotics, Linz, Austria: The nominated product is a so-called active contact flange. This ingenious device makes it possible to automate tasks that hitherto had to be performed manually due to the degree of dexterity and sensitivity required. The contact flange can be fitted to any standard industrial robot. The device is touch-sensitive and force-controlled as it combines the functions of an actuator and sensor in a single unit. Krautzberger, Eltville: The family enterprise that invented the spray gun as we know it back in 1902 has been nominated for an innovative steam spraying system. With this technology, atomization is effected by steam instead of the more conventional compressed air. Krautzberger's adoption of steam as the atomizing medium is a world first. Omega Air, Ljubljana, Slovenia: The nominated product is an electronic pressure drop indicator used to monitor air filters in compressed air systems. The change in pressure is recorded in the conventional way with the aid of a membrane by the displacement of a magnet attached to a pre-tensioned spring. What is new is the positional displacement of the magnet. For the first time the displacement of a drop is now capacitively registered from a ferrofluid, which is a fluid that can be magnetized. Tailorlux, Steinfurt: The nominated product is known as Tailor-Safe. This is a new security system for protecting products of all kinds against counterfeiting and plagiarism. The products in question are authenticated by the application of special luminescent pigments. 300 billion unique combinations of luminescent materials are possible, and it is a simple matter to check a product's unique "light signature" against the manufacturer's database with the aid of a mobile spectrometer linked to the Internet. Wenglor Sensoric, Tettnang: The product nominated for the Award is a transit time sensor that can detect the position of objects with great accuracy, yet has all the practical advantages of a very compact format. The WinTec software used in this new generation of sensors ensures reliable switching performance on reflective surfaces and black surfaces alike.
