Founded in Bremen in 2016, the start-up Sensosurf is primarily dedicated to the development of intelligent machine components for predictive maintenance. To this end, Sensosurf integrates sensors directly into standard machine elements such as bearings, levers, guides and screws. To ensure consistently high and scalable data quality for machine learning, Sensosurf uses a specially tailored IoT framework in addition to the appropriate electronics. This provides customers with customized, specific information about their components, machines and processes. At Cebit 2018 in Hanover, the team led by company founder Dr. Cord Winkelmann demonstrated what exactly is meant by a "Screw 4.0".

"Screw 4.0" stands for standard threaded rods that Sensosurf has upgraded to a smart component in the sense of Industry 4.0 by integrating robust sensor elements. In combination with the miniaturized readout electronics, the "Screw 4.0" supports the user during assembly - which can be carried out as usual - by providing information about the required tightening torque. Later on, the sensors provide information about the loss of preload, breakages in the threaded rod or nut and mechanical loads caused by assembled components, for example. Configuration and commissioning of the system is extremely simple, and the data obtained can also be visualized in various ways. Sensosurf names wind power, turbines and generators, oil and gas plants and special machinery as areas of application for the "Screw 4.0".

The high-tech company Sensosurf was founded in 2016 as a spin-off of the Chair of Microsensors, -actuators and -systems (IMSAS) at the University of Bremen. The start-up successfully transfers microsystems technology to the harsh environmental conditions of mechanical engineering. The startup and its founders have already won several awards such as the Schaeffler Innovation Award and the WECONOMY Award and are funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the TechFounders accelerator program as part of the EXIST research transfer program.