This year saw the Hermes Award jury at Hannover Messe, chaired by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Reimund Neugebauer, president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, award a product ideally suited for applications in the rapidly growing robotics market. The award-winning TUAKA product is a fully integrated drive. New features include the gear unit, the motor and the driver with safety functions. Thanks to the product's sensor technology and thermal management, it is suitable for high-precision, sensitive applications in service robotics as well as for interaction with humans.

Manufacturing is facing constant challenges stemming from labor shortages and disrupted supply chains to productivity declines and the high replacement and maintenance costs of legacy equipment. Trends today include equipment upgrades, e-commerce, a push for more robotics and automation and faster software and IIoT solutions.