- Interactive robot installation enables Internet users to directly access industrial production equipment
- Four robots manufacture products according to user specifications which are then shipped world-wide
- ROBOCHOP is a precursor of the Internet of Things in which processes are initiated by software
Stuttgart, February 5, 2015 – At this year’s CeBIT, CODE_n15 will focus entirely on the Internet of Things. Four enormous industrial robots will form the central anchor point. Internet users around the world will be able to access the machines via the www.robochop.com website, where a 3D web app will enable them to design small furniture items. These will then be produced by the robots during CeBIT and shipped to the users.
“The interactive robot installation by designers Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram is no futuristic vision, but a fully functioning implementation of Industry 4.0. Instead of just talking about the Internet of Things, we will be clearly demonstrating in CODE_n Hall 16 just how advanced the interlinking of the physical and digital worlds already is,” says Ulrich Dietz, CEO of the GFT Group and initiator of CODE_n.
With the aid of a hot-wire cutting tool with coaxial cooling, the robot shapes a polystyrene cube according to the user’s instructions. The 50x50x50 centimeter cube can be transformed into anything the user desires – a stool, coffee table or even abstract object. The user enjoys total creative freedom: the potential and limitations of the production system have all been considered – the entire process from the user interface on the smartphone, to the robots themselves, and the logistics chain of the physical product on its way back to the user. For once the object has been produced, it is shipped to its creator – anywhere in the world. From March 16 to 20, 2015, a total of 2,000 cubes will be processed at CeBIT, the world’s largest IT fair in Hanover, Germany. Internet users will already be able to access the ROBOCHOP web app from March 4 at www.robochop.com/ and send their designs to the robot production line.
For the development of the robot installation ROBOCHOP, the GFT Group commissioned Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram who already provided the spectacular Big Data visualizations for last year’s CODE_n hall. ROBOCHOP is the second robot project of the two designers: in 2010, the highly acclaimed installation OUTRACE in Trafalgar Square allowed Internet users around the world to trace messages in the London sky during the London Design Festival. “While in 2010 OUTRACE gave people control over eight robot arms to convert text messages into dynamic digital media, five years later ROBOCHOP now enables them to create physical objects,” says Clemens Weisshaar.
Weisshaar and Kram regard the installation as a precursor of Industry 4.0: in the not-too-distant future, consumers will be able to directly access industrial production equipment. ROBOCHOP is a fully functioning experimental setup of the two designers – part cutting-edge automation technology and part virtual system – which can translate three-dimensional ideas into physical objects.
The robot installation is being supported by the CODE_n partners CeBIT, EY, Salesforce, Accenture (in cooperation with Smart Service Welt), EnBW, TRUMPF and KUKA.
ROBOCHOP online: www.robochop.com and CODE_n blog
CODE_n online: www.code-n.org
About CODE_n:
Initiated by the GFT Group in 2011, CODE_n is a global innovation platform for digital pioneers and leading companies. Featuring elements such as CONTEST, CULTURE, CONNECT and SPACES, CODE_n offers an ecosystem which networks companies and innovative personalities as well as supporting the development of new, digital business models. CODE_n stands for “Code of the New,” the DNA of innovation.
CODE_n will present the CODE_n Award for the fourth time in 2015, this time on the theme of “Into the Internet of Things.” Global partners of CODE_n are CeBIT, EY and Salesforce; conference partner is Accenture (in cooperation with Smart Service Welt); strategic partners are TRUMPF and EnBW.
For more information online go to www.code-n.org
About Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram:
At their inter-disciplinary, technologically advanced design studio, Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram design and produce objects, media and spaces. They have been referred to as “the vanguard of the next generation of digital designers” (FORM magazine) and “the poster boys of a new breed of designers” (International Herald Tribune). Their work alternates between virtual reality and physical space and extends the rules and boundaries in real time beyond an aesthetic instinct. Their best-known projects include the digital components of the Prada Epicenter Stores (New York and Beverly Hills 2001 – 2004), the pioneering BREEDING TABLES (2003), HYPERSKY (Cologne, 2007) and OUTRACE (Trafalgar Square, London 2010). Their work is exhibited, for example, in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.
www.kramweisshaar.com
About the GFT Group:
The GFT Group is a global technology partner for future digital issues – covering everything from discovering innovation to developing and implementing sustainable business models.
Within the GFT Group, GFT stands for competent consulting and reliable development, implementation and maintenance of customized IT solutions. The company is one of the world’s leading IT solutions providers in the banking sector.
emagine offers companies the opportunity to staff their strategic technology projects both quickly and flexibly with capable experts. To achieve this, emagine has an international network of highly qualified IT and engineering specialists at its disposal.
Headquartered in Germany, the GFT Group has stood for technological expertise, innovative strength and outstanding quality for over 25 years. Founded in 1987, the GFT Group is represented in eleven countries with a global team spanning 3,100 employees. The GFT Group is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard).
www.gft.com
Media contacts
Rose Ross
Omarketing (for CODE_n)
gftteam@omarketing.com
+44(0)208 255 5225
@Rose_at_O
Christian Kleff
Head of Corporate Communications
GFT Technologies AG
Schelmenwasenstraße 34
70567 Stuttgart
T +49 711 62042-125
F +49 711 62042-301
christian.kleff@gft.com
Source: RealWire
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