The wide availability of inexpensive sensors and the ability to connect them to the internet provide great development opportunities and ensure a bright future for the manufacturing industry. The Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet in the United States, Industry 4.0 in Europe and 物 联网 (wù lián wăng) in China are all about the...
When robots, artificial intelligence and other technologies play an increasingly important part at the workplace, the role of human operators becomes increasingly important as well. This may sound like a paradox but it isn’t. The 21st century will be the era of knowledge workers. Whoever wants to know tomorrow’s competences, can consult the texts...
Energy storage is a major component in the research into energy saving and CO2 reduction. However, the technology has not reached full maturity yet. We are faced more and more with the limits of traditional batteries. Fortunately, alternatives are being introduced. Capacitors are being hyped as the new batteries – at least for applications where a...
An ever increasing number of companies are discovering the benefits of innovation and digitalisation. By applying technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, Virtual Reality, robots and cobots, etc., you can considerably increase the efficiency of your business. In this article, we will focus on the role of robots in manufacturing...
Nobody can deny that the Internet plays an important role in our daily lives. US IoT provider PlumChoice suggested already in 2017 that 79% of consumers has at least one connected device such as a smart thermostat, a smart lock or Alexa in their home. Still, the biggest evolution does not take place in our living room but within the industry....
A major objective of Flanders Make, the strategic R&D centre to develop new manufacturing technologies, is to advance Industry 4.0 objective through automation, robotics, algorithms etc. Its CEO since 2014 is Dr Dirk Torfs, a distinguished civil, mechanical and electrical engineer who also holds a doctorate in Applied Sciences. He is leading a...
European legislation imposes increasingly strict limits regarding the emission of damaging gases by vehicles. Accordingly, the automotive industry performs considerably research into green technology. They do this together with universities and research centres such as Flanders Make. VCST (Volvo Cars Sint-Truiden) is a global designer and...
Self-driving cars capture everyone’s imagination. Less common knowledge is that the development of the technology to make machinery and other vehicles autonomous is supported in Flanders. Flanders Make, the research center for the manufacturing industry, maintains close partnerships with the industry to study a wide range of applications: from...
The media often talk about autonomous vehicles. However, it is obvious that driverless cars won’t take over our streets anytime soon. What is talked about a lot less, is that in industrial environments, autonomous applications have been integrated a lot more already. AGVs or Automated Guided Vehicles can execute different tasks in a production...
Flanders Make is an initiative supported by the Flemish Government, the Limburg Fund and the ERDF.
