Precision Fair Trade Show showcases young talent enabling autonomous Antarctic research

22 Nov, 2023

Precision Fair Trade Show showcases young talent enabling autonomous Antarctic research

The Precision Fair 2023 served as a platform for professionals to share knowledge, explore new ideas, and witness the latest technological advancements, underlining the sector's vital role in various industries and scientific research.

The Precision Fair 2024, held on November 13 and 14, 2024, at the Brabanthallen in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, was a significant event in the field of precision technology. This fair served as a crucial platform for the entire precision technology value chain, emphasizing the importance of this technology as a stable foundation for many devices and components in our daily lives.

Precision technology involves the development, production, and assembly of complex products requiring very high accuracy. Think, for example, of products such as microchips, microscopes, measuring equipment, and robots.

During its 22nd edition, the Precision Fair facilitated meetings, collaborations, and knowledge sharing, which are essential to keep pace with rapid technological advancements.

The event featured six main topics: Mechatronic Engineering Systems, Metrology, Vacuum & Clean, Micro Processing, Motion & Laser Photonics, and Production for High Precision. These topics allowed visitors to engage with experts and explore solutions in these cutting-edge areas.

The Precision Fair has consistently played a pivotal role in bringing together various stakeholders in the precision technology sector to collaborate on the next generation of technological innovations. The event was organized by Mikrocentrum and supported by various media partners, underlining its significance in the industry.

Highlights from the Precision Fair 2023

Highlights from the 2-day event included:

Innovative Deburring Machines

Dieter Munz, Director of Ultratec Innovation GmbH, presented deburring machines equipped with a robotic system for 24/7 workpiece loading. This innovation highlighted the strides in automation and manufacturing efficiency.

European Semiconductor Market Insights

Dr. Theresa Spaan-Burke from VDMA EMINT provided valuable insights into the European semiconductor market, discussing its business climate and future outlook, which is crucial for understanding industry trends.

Digital Transformation in Precision Machines

Mauro Fusco, Senior Application Engineer at The MathWorks BV, discussed the integration of digital technologies in precision machines, emphasizing the importance of digital transformation in enhancing machine performance.

The Power of Precision

Frank Loobeek from Mifa Aluminium BV highlighted the significance of precision in manufacturing, focusing on how precision impacts product quality and performance.

Advancements in Metal Additive Manufacturing

Rob van Loon from KMWE Precision BV explored the challenges and solutions in metal additive manufacturing, particularly focusing on the impact of tolerances on manufacturability and cost.

Data-Driven Design Improvement

Dr. Willem Dijkstra from VDL ETG presented on the use of data analytics in improving the design and reliability of precision components, showcasing the potential of data-driven approaches in precision engineering.

Young Talent Award Winners

New innovations will be driven by the next generation, which is why Mikrocentrum offers young talent and their budding technology projects a stage there through its Young Talent Program.

Start-ups and student teams send in a 30-second pitch about their technology or product and hold a three-minute pitch on the day itself. A jury composed of Bert-Jan Woertman, the Director of Mikrocentrum, and Richard Hulskes, Co-founder of Wevolver, among others, decide the winners based on factors such as the design and substantiation underpinning the presented innovation.

2024 Young Talent Award Winners

Mikrocentrum presented the Young Talent Award to Project MARCH and Wevolver to Team POLAR. Both teams make real social impact with their solutions.

Project March creates exoskeletons that enable people with spinal cord injuries to have a greater range of motion and movement. help people with spinal cord injuries.

Concept of the exoskeleton. Image: Project March.

Team Polar aims to venture into the unexplored territories of the Antarctic with an autonomous and sustainable vehicle. They want to enable global accessibility of Antarctic research via a modular research platform, detecting new routes, and doing this all in an economical, safe and environmentally-friendly way.

Team Polar won $5000 worth of media support from Wevolver. Stay tuned for more articles about this innovative group soon!

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A Beginners Guide to Self-Driving Cars

Everything you should know before your next conversation about self-driving cars

Anyi Sun

20 Jul, 2019

Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs)

Some call it a marvel of technology. Some call it a fad. Self-driving cars are constantly making the headlines. These vehicles, designed to carry passengers from point A to B without a human maneuver, are promised to bring greater mobility, reduce street congestion and fuel consumption, and create safer roads.

Driverless vehicles are hardly a novel concept anymore, but what is really going on in the autonomous car industry? How do self-driving cars work? Who are making these cars? Why is it taking this long? This article will answer these questions.

How do self-driving cars work

To reach a destination, a driverless car needs to know the route, understand its surrounding, observe traffic rules, and make correct judgments when interacting with other vehicles and pedestrians on the road. To accomplish all this, it relies on the following key technologies:

Camera: to see things like lanes and traffic lights
Radar: to sense objects, especially the big ones, and determine their distances
Lidar: also to sense objects as Radar, but it’s much better in detecting small objects and mapping 3D objects. Unfortunately, it is expensive and can still be a little unreliable at times.
AI: the brain of the car. It combines the car’s sensors and camera visions to understand the path ahead and determine how the car should be maneuvered.

Leveling up

The progression of driverless technology doesn’t go from no automation at all to full-on self-driving with no human intervention. In fact, SAE International, an automotive standardization organization classified autonomous cars to 5 levels:

Level 0 — No Automation: Human driver controls everything — steering, braking, and accelerating.
Level 1 — Driver Assistance: The car provides some help with either steering OR accelerating. Cars with cruise controls fall into this category.
Level 2 — Par

Image: Emilio Frazzoli’s start-up NuTonomy develops control software for autonomous vehicles and uses Singapore as a test bed. (Photograph: NuTonomy)

Algorithms take the wheel

Car sharing with autonomous vehicles could improve cities in many different ways. Singapore is taking a pioneering role, working with ETH researchers to explore the potential of personalised, electrified and automated public transport.

Samuel Schlaefli

18 Sep, 2018

Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs)

- Autonomous Vehicles

The future of mobility is measured in milestones: this February, Google subsidiary Waymo announced that its fleet of self-driving cars had covered over 8 million kilometres on public roads. This came shortly after Uber’s announcement that it had completed 3 million kilometres of autonomous driving. If industry has its way, then we will soon be sharing all our streets with vehicles controlled by algorithms instead of drivers. But is that a realistic scenario? Or simply a rose-tinted vision of a tech-driven future?

We asked one of the leading experts in this field, Italian researcher Emilio Frazzoli, Professor of Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich since October 2016. “It all depends what level of autonomous mobility you have in mind,” he replies. “I would say it will be at least another 15 years before you can buy a self-driving car from a dealer. But if you mean a limit- ed kind of car sharing, then it’s already happening.” In fact, this latter concept is a core part of Frazzoli’s own research. In mid-2018, the ride sharing company Lyft launched a service on the Las Vegas Strip that allows anyone to book one of a fleet of 30 BMWs through its app. The driverless cars are controlled by algorithms developed by vehicle technology company Aptiv, which acquired NuTonomy – the start-up founded by Frazzoli – in October 2017.

Rethinking urban mobility

Before joining ETH, Frazzoli spent ten years as a professor at the prestig- ious MIT in Boston. Autonomous systems – initially aircraft and drones – were the focus of his work right from the start. “The technical side of that was generally pretty cool, but it wasn’t really doing much to help solve the challenges society is facing.” In 2009, he found himself pondering a fundamental question: “Back then, the main argument for conducting research into self-driving cars was the idea that they would make road traffic safer.” While acknowledging the truth of that statement, at l