Vector AwardAward for heavy-duty robot
Every two years, Igus presents the Vector Award at the Hannover Messe trade fair, recognizing special applications with energy chain systems. This year, the golden Vector went to Robotic Drilling Systems from Norway.
Gold was awarded to the "Drill-floor Robot DFR-1500" from Robotic Drilling Systems. It is the central robot in a system for completely automated oil drilling. Where workers normally have to carry individual drilling elements back and forth by hand and screw them together with enormous effort, the company is working on the oil drilling platform of the future, on which only robots prepare and carry out the drilling. The DFR-1500 picks up individual drilling elements and places them in the correct position for the drilling process. Several RBR systems from Igus are used in the robot's joints, which are responsible for the supply of energy, data and media. 'RBR' stands for 'reverse bending radius', as the chains are used lying on their side and the chain links can move in both directions, enabling rotational movements.