Collaborative robotics pioneer Esben Østergaard – the co-founder and chief technology officer of Universal Robots – has been awarded the prestigious Engelberger Robotics Award for Technology.
Mr Østergaard spearheads the development of Universal Robots’ collaborative robot arms, known as cobots, considered by many to be one of the most significant technology breakthroughs in robotics in decades. He will be presented with the Engelberger award by the American Robotic Industries Association (RIA) at a ceremony in Munich on 20 June.
“Esben Østergaard’s work in the field of collaborative robot applications has allowed robots to enter previously unthinkable sectors in just about every industry,” said RIA president Jeff Burnstein, who described Mr Østergaard as a visionary in defining a new category of robotics.
He added: “His emphasis on robots that work side by side with people and are easy to use has created enormous interest among many smaller companies who never even considered robots before. In a world that is increasingly characterised by people and robots working together, his pioneering technology advances play a pivotal role.”
Mr Østergaard co-founded Universal Robots in Denmark in 2005 with fellow engineers Kasper Støy and Kristian Kassow.
In 2008 the company launched the world’s first commercially viable robot that was able to operate safely outside enclosures alongside people. Today, the company leads cobots market, with a 58% share of all collaborative robots currently sold worldwide.
Mr Østergaard leads a team of developers who launched user-friendly 3D robot programming via an intuitive tablet interface. This allows users with no previous programming experience to quickly set up and operate the company’s robots.
He developed the robot’s force and safety control features, designed so that if the robot collides with a person, it automatically stops operating and does not cause bodily harm. This eliminates the need for safety guarding in the vast majority of applications.
Mr Østergaard has also sought to make the technology affordable and easy to work with.
“I’m deeply honoured to win the award named after Joseph Engelberger, who revolutionised industrial manufacturing with robotics,” he said “Engelberger’s view that a robot should be able to handle a range of tasks in a factory aligns with Universal Robots’ core mission, and I’m a great admirer of his work.”
He added: “We want to put control of factory automation back in the hands of operators. Instead of replacing people we want to give them a tool to do their work more efficiently. We want to remove them from working like robots to becoming robot programmers and handling more value added tasks. Doing this will perhaps be the best long term result from collaborative robots.”
The Engelberger Robotics Award, considered the world’s most prestigious robotics honour, is named after Joseph F. Engelberger, the founder and president of Unimation, the world’s first industrial robot manufacturer. Since 1977, the awards have been presented to individuals for excellence in technology development, application, education, and leadership in the robotics industry. The leadership award is given each year, with the other categories rotating on an annual basis. This year’s leadership award went to Gudrun Litzenberger, general secretary of the International Federation of Robotics.