The Innovation Award Laser Technology 2008 awarded to Daimler Dipl.-Ing

May 12, 2008
Dipl.-Ing. Bertold Hopf has won the Innovation Award Laser Technology 2008 as representative of Daimler's RobScan project team. RobScan (robot-guided remote scanner) for laser beam welding is a new process developed for vehicle body construction by Hopf, Dr. Klaus Debschütz, and their project team within Daimler AG. Hopf was awarded the 10,000 Euro prize on May 8 at Aachen, Germany's town hall.

Dipl.-Ing. Bertold Hopf, Daimler AG, has won the Innovation Award Laser Technology 2008 as representative of the RobScan project team. RobScan (robot-guided remote scanner) for laser beam welding is a new process developed for vehicle body construction by Hopf, Dr. Klaus Debschütz, and their project team within Daimler AG. Hopf was awarded the 10,000 Euro prize on May 8 in Aachen, Germany's town hall.

The Innovation Award Laser Technology is a European research prize awarded by the associations Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik e.V. and the European Laser Institute (ELI). The award can be conferred on an individual researcher or on an entire project group whose exceptional skills and dedicated work have led to an outstanding innovation in the field of laser technology.

The scientific and technological projects in question must center on the use of laser light in materials processing and the methods of producing such light, and must furthermore be of demonstrable commercial value to industry.

The innovation of the RobScan system is the combination of different hardware components and the Daimler-developed process technology and control software. It uses the known advantages of laser welding and extends them with new possibilities in process technology and a new control system to utilize all the possibilities of the remote scanner.

It was thus possible to increase the welding speed and improve the welding quality. The RobScan process combines the high speed and precision of scanner optics with the flexibility of a robot. The commercial value to the automotive industry has been convincingly demonstrated.

Dipl.-Ing. Bertold Hopf is head of material and production in the Technology Department of Daimler AG in Sindelfingen. Dr. Klaus Debschütz is head of materials, manufacturing, concepts – body of Daimler´s Group Research in Ulm.

Prof. Reinhart Poprawe, VP of the association Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik AKL e.V. and director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, pointed out the dedicated work of the RobScan project team and the outstanding innovation in the field of laser technology.

The international jury selected on a basis of merit and according to the published assessment criteria (see www.innovation-award-laser.org) three innovation teams out of 15 applications as finalists. The other two finalists were:

- RAPID: High-power, high-repetition-rate picosecond (ps) laser for industrial high-end micromachining (team representative: Dr. Achim Nebel, Managing director, LUMERA LASER GmbH, Kaiserslautern)

- Ultrafast Laser for Efficient Industrial Micromachining (team representative: Dr. Dirk Sutter, Senior Scientist, Advanced R&D and Product Development Manager, TRUMPF Laser GmbH + Co. KG, Schramberg)

All 3 applications have led to an outstanding innovation in the field of laser technology and are presented in detail on www.innovation-award-laser.org.

Sponsored Recommendations

Ask the Expert: Building Better Laser Micromachining Systems

Dec. 8, 2023
Dr. Cliff Jolliffe, Head of Strategic Marketing, Industrial Automation, Physik Instrumente (PI), fields questions about integrating controls for different motion systems and lasers...

Video: December 8, 2023 Photonics Hot List

Dec. 8, 2023
In this episode, we cover a microscopy method that hits uncharted cell territory, drone-based imaging for solar farm inspection, soliton microcombs that boost conversion efficiency...

China’s industrial laser market shows steady growth in turbulent times

Dec. 8, 2023
This in-depth market update focuses on trends in laser processing and industrial lasers while touching on what to expect in the ultrafast laser, fiber laser, LiDAR, and handheld...

What does it take to land venture capital for photonics-driven startups?

Dec. 7, 2023
Capital to grow a startup company can come from many sources: contract and non-recurring engineering (NRE) funding, angels and friends, customer upfront payments, and venture ...

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Laser Focus World, create an account today!