Wittekindshofer workshops realize the workplace with low-cost robots for 4,970 euros
Cologne, April 10, 2025 – Daniel Hillebrand suffers from tetraspastic that makes a controlled movement of the extremities impossible. Nevertheless, he can work independently-thanks to an automated workplace that the Diakonische Foundation Wittekindshofer Werkstätten from Bad Oeynhausen realized despite tight budgets with an IGUS low-cost robot. The foundation now received the Roibot Award for this creative inclusion project. The competition is characterized by innovative and economic automation projects that have been successfully implemented using Igus products. Other award winners include the Dutch company Paperfoam, the French Research Institute CNRS and the University of Politecnico from Milan.
Daniel Hillebrand sits in a wheelchair and moves a joystick with his chin. It controls a robot arm that sorts plastic components. Several hours a day, without outside help. “Daniel is used to being almost completely dependent on help in his life,” says Torsten Jeschke, electrician and educator in the Wittekindshofer workshops. “Thanks to the new facility, he can now work independently despite its severe paralysis.” For him that is the sky on earth. “The robot is cool,” confirms Daniel Hillebrand. “I had to get into the technology first, but now everything is going really well. It is most beautiful when the sack is full after a long work.”
“An automation project that is particularly moving for us at Igus.”
We would have been unaffordable for the Wittekindshofer workshops that were customary in the market and were too complex in the control. Jeschke has therefore put together a cheaper solution that can be operated as easily as a computer game-with the help of the low-cost robotic platform RBTX from Igus. The heart of the heart and Daniel Hillebrand’s poor set is the Rebel, a joint arm robot made of high -performance plastic for only 4,970 euros. Igus had now advertised the Roibot competition for the third time to distinguish companies and organizations that are particularly smart and economic automation projects with the help of the RBTX marketplace. The winners receive vouchers for robotics hardware worth up to 5,000 euros. “For us it is really moving to see how the Wittekindshofer workshops made it, with limited financial resources and the more imagination to put an automation project on the legs that improve the lives of a person. Low-cost automation division at IGUS and patron of the Roibot Awards. Igus himself signed the Good Work Charter of the Association of German Machine and Plant builders and thus committed itself to the positive contribution from robotics to society. The Charter emphasizes that robotics and automation technologies not only increase productivity, but also improve people by optimizing working conditions and creating new opportunities.
The other award winners: robot components for quality assurance, astrote parts physics and automated fruit harvest
Second place and 2,500 euros for robotics hardware go to Paperfoam. The Dutch company has equipped the Igus joint arm robot with a camera in order to check its bio -based and recyclable packaging randomly for production errors. The solution reduces the physical stress on the employees and at the same time increases the quality of production. The French Research Institute Center National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) is looking forward to the development of a calibration device of a telescope for astrote physics. By using lubricating -free linear axles from Igus, the designers achieve high precision and maintenance. The special prize for educational institutions and also 1,000 euros go to the scientific-technical university of Politecnico in Milan. With the Rebel robot arm, she constructed a mobile manipulator that designs the fruit harvest by automation more efficiently and less labor -intensive. “The winners prove that Automation is no longer just a question of money today,” concluded Mühlens. “Even with small budgets and creativity, economic automation solutions can be realized with a quick return on investment. We look forward to getting to know more exciting and inexpensive automation projects at the next Roibot Award.”
Find out more about the Roibot Award and the winners:
https://www.igus.de/automation/service/gewinner-roibot
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