
Schaeffler acquires Compact Dynamics
The automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler has signed a purchase agreement with Semikron to acquire 51% of the shares in Compact Dynamics, a manufacturer of high-performance electric motors.
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The automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler has signed a purchase agreement with Semikron to acquire 51% of the shares in Compact Dynamics, a manufacturer of high-performance electric motors.

Reinventing the skateboard and conjuring up a whole new riding experience - that was the goal of the start-up company Inboard Technologies. With the M1, they have succeeded - and it could revolutionize urban traffic.

Equipped with a new sensor concept and robust localization, the Mercedes-Benz Future Bus started its 20-km test drive in July 2016. The Research Center for Information Technology (FZI) has now announced details of the technical implementation.

A robot as a shopping assistant
In January 2015, Fraunhofer IPA presented the Care-O-bot 4 service robot as a prototype. Now it can prove itself in practice for the first time: As the robot 'Paul', he has been greeting customers at the Saturn store in Ingolstadt since the end of October 2016 and guiding them to the products they want.

The EU project 'Echord++' promotes cutting-edge research in robotics. With the launch of 'Echord' in 2009 and its successor 'Echord++' in 2013, over 50 robots have since made it to market maturity. We show the best in a picture gallery.
Leoni is developing a concept for cooled charging systems to shorten the charging times of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. These should enable charging times of three to five minutes for a range of 100 kilometers.

The robotics competition 'RoboCup' has entered a new round. Registration for the German preliminary round - the 'RoboCup German Open' - has been open since mid-October. Those who qualify for the RoboCup Junior Final will compete at the RoboCup World Championship 2017 in Japan.

International Federation of Robotics
Service robots for professional applications recorded a significant increase in sales and sales value in 2015. However, the development of service robotics is also rosy in the private sector. Current figures and forecasts from the robotics association IFR show this.

Inspection, observation, surveying: tasks for which drones are increasingly being used. Intel is presenting a new aircraft for these applications.

With the 'MeBot', the Human Engineering Research Lab is developing the first wheelchair robot that can autonomously negotiate stairs and kerbs. Fraunhofer IPA has integrated the necessary radar measurement technology. The innovation competes against other systems in the Cybathlon.