Schaeffler, a leading global automotive and industrial supplier, was recently awarded the Red Dot: Best of the Best award for its Dual EXtendable (DEX), the Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) project in the Red Dot Design Award under the Design Concept category.

DEX was designed to reimagine the dexterity and intelligence of collaborative robots and their relationships with shopfloor employees. Featuring bi-directional leg extensions, WLAN and middleware integration, 2D/3D SLAM-based precise localization, as well as speech and gesture recognition capabilities, DEX serves as a research testbed to infuse functionality with smart social behaviors to support and boost productivity in industrial settings for a wide range of tasks.

Commenting on the award, Mr. Han Boon Siew, Chief Information Officer Schaeffler Asia/Pacific, Director at Schaeffler Hub for Advanced Research, said: “Being awarded the Best of the Best award for DEX from one of the most prestigious awards is testament to our continuous passion and commitment in developing cutting edge solutions to drive new possibilities for mobility and motion – both with our customers and for our production operations.”

The research project is part of Schaeffler’s Schaeffler Hub for Advanced Research (SHARE) program that comprises a global research network with leading universities worldwide via its company-on-campus concept.

The concept enables particularly intensive exchange and close cooperation between Schaeffler employees, scientists and academics through applied research to expand the current state of technology and transfer research insights into product development activities.

DEX was also designed in collaboration with Orcadesign Consultants Pte Ltd, who worked closely with the SHARE at NTU technology team to visualise the concept and vision of DEX while integrating their insights and expertise in defining the user experience that included the robot’s form and touchpoints.  

“At Schaeffler, we see collaboration as key to the strategic development of components and technologies in meeting the demands of future-oriented trends in the automotive and industrial sectors. With the SHARE program, we look to bridge our components and system expertise with the technology competence of academic institutes and industry experts to enhance our technological and methodical capabilities,” Mr. Han added.

To appraise the broad scope of design professionally, the Red Dot Design Award has three distinct disciplines: the Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design and Red Dot Award: Design Concept. The Red Dot Award is organized by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany, and is one of the largest design competitions in the world.

In 2021, Schaeffler received the Red Dot Design Award in the “Smart Product” and “Industrial Design” categories for its OPTIME condition monitoring solution. The plug-and-play solution, which allows for comprehensive condition monitoring that is both easy and affordable, enables industry players to quickly and conveniently plan their long-term maintenance, manpower or spare-parts requirements in a matter of hours.

The Best of the Best award is awarded to projects and concepts for groundbreaking design and is reserved for the best works in a particular category. The project was also one of five nominations for the Red Dot: Luminary 2022 – the top accolade presented to one of the Red Dot: Best of the Best projects for 2022.

The Red Dot award ceremony will be held on September 27, 2022, where members of the industry will come together to celebrate the award winners’ success and outstanding achievements.