The Hermes Award, one of the world's most important industry prizes according to the organizing company Deutsche Messe AG, is presented every year at the Hannover Messe. The prize is awarded to a product that represents a technical innovation and is presented for the first time at the Hannover Messe. "This year, for the first time, three international companies are among the nominees, which demonstrates the high status of the Hermes Award as an innovation prize at the world's most important industrial trade fair," says Dr. Jochen Köckler, Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Messe AG.

An independent jury chaired by Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster, CEO of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), nominated the candidates for the Hermes Award 2017. "One of the trends in this year's submissions was to clearly focus on people in the smart factory in Industry 4.0 - through simplified operating concepts, improved working comfort and safe human-robot collaboration," explains Wahlster. The five solutions will be presented at the opening ceremony of the Hannover Messe on April 23. Federal Education Minister Prof. Johanna Wanka will give the laudatory speech and present the awards.

The following companies have been nominated for the Hermes Award 2017 (listed in alphabetical order):

Cable laying technology for narrow routes up to 2 km in length

AGS-Verfahrenstechnik, Stade: The nominated product is an innovative cable laying technology for narrow routes up to 2 km in length, in which a cable transport pipe with an internal cable is inserted into a water-filled empty conduit system via rollers without tensile stress. This means that fewer cable connection sleeves are required, while at the same time reducing the amount of excavation work. The cable can be replaced at any time without additional construction work. The water cooling of the current-carrying cable enables particularly narrow cable routes, reducing the amount of earthworks and landscaping required.

Smart panel with new interaction options

Augumenta, Oulu, Finland: The nominated product is a smart panel that enables new ways of interacting with industrial systems. A new control panel was developed using smart glasses (data glasses). This makes it possible to virtualize 3D user interfaces and control elements on a passive flat surface. With the smart panel display, people equipped with smartglasses see personalized data or control information displayed on a virtual screen. This means that authorized users only see personalized data that is important to them.

Fully automated sheet metal bending machine

Linz Center of Mechatronics, Linz, Austria: The nominated product is a fully automated sheet metal bending machine from Salvagnini that automatically recognizes material. The design and production process was completely virtualized. The laws and mechanical properties of the various sheets were determined and integrated into a software using a complex simulation model. Sensors on the drives of the automatic bending machine measure within milliseconds how the respective workpiece reacts to pressure and thus determine the current material properties. The product reacts independently to different material qualities. This means that batch size 1 can be produced precisely right from the start without producing rejects. The process can be optimized iteratively for large batches.

Intelligent gripper with sensory aura

Schunk, Lauffen/Neckar: The nominated product is an intelligent gripper equipped with a sensory aura that has a decentralized control architecture and can interact and communicate directly with humans and robots. The safety aura is integrated into the gripper, enabling a highly flexible handling and assembly process for gripping any geometry. The gripper fingers have force measuring jaws and tactile sensors, allowing adaptive gripper operations. Two camera systems show the environment in 3D format and support the detection of gripped parts. The gripper is particularly suitable for safe human-robot collaboration.

Chairless chair as posture support that can be worn on the body

Noonee AG, Zurich, Switzerland: The Chairless Chair is a posture support for employees in production that can be worn on the body. The device, which weighs less than 4 kg, allows employees to sit anywhere without a seat. The Chairless Chair is also worn when walking and can be adjusted to a desired sitting position at the touch of a button. The device is easy to handle and enables a quick change between standing, sitting and walking. It is hydraulically adjustable to the wearer's figure and the desired sitting position. The Chairless Chair therefore helps to improve workplaces, supports posture and increases employee productivity.