Technology in 60 seconds

All articles from 2018 

"Technology in 60 seconds" provides insights into the world of Festo and observes the latest developments in society, economy and science. Click through the archive from 2018:

Technik in 60 Sekuden
Automated woodcutting
Article of 20 December 2018

Automated woodcutting

Pine and spruce are important materials for the construction industry and for furniture production. The trees are cut automatically with sawing systems.

Laserschmelzen
Article of 30 November 2018

Components made of powder and laser light

Create new components layer by layer with a laser instead of forging or casting them – a trend that is becoming ever more common in the industry. For a long time, so-called additive manufacturing was mainly used for the production of prototypes. For the first time, Festo is now manufacturing a series component made of aluminium.

Laborautomatisierung
Article of 26 October 2018

Fully automated DNA extraction

In plant breeding, countless DNA samples are examined in the laboratory every day. Robots support fast and precise sample preparation.

Kuhstall 4.0
Article of 28 September 2018

Cowshed 4.0

Digitisation has arrived in the agriculture sector. In Cowshed 4.0, robots are feeding and milking the animals. The digital systems also record important measurements about their health – and turn the farmer increasingly into a data manager.

Treatment of drinking water with pneumatic drives
Article of 31 august 2018

Clean and soft water

It is impossible to imagine life without fresh water. Water is treated at waterworks – supported by pneumatic drives.

Byetec
Article of 27 July 2018

Keeping a clear view

A cataract is an eye condition where the eye lens becomes cloudy and vision is impaired. By means of an eye operation, full eyesight can often be restored these days. Operation systems with pneumatic valve technology help eye surgeons to provide precise and error-free treatment.

Five ultrasound sensors on its head constantly measure the distances to the walls.
Article of 29 June 2018

Collision-free swimming with ultrasound

By means of ultrasound, dolphins and pilot whales are able to find their way even in dark and murky waters using their natural echo sounder. Submarines also use ultrasound technology for locating purposes. Ultrasound sensors can calculate distances, even to transparent materials and underwater. The BionicFinWave takes advantage of these properties: the underwater robot by Festo swims collision-free through a pipe system made of acrylic glass thanks to ultrasound sensors.

Soley
Article of 25 May 2018

Large amounts of data – little effort

The Festo product portfolio is huge: there are over 30,000 catalogue products, some of which are available in millions of variants, as well as customised products. With such variety it is not easy to keep an overview of all the relevant product details and to evaluate these – a classic problem of large amounts of data, also called ‘big data’. Help can be provided here in the form of software tools, which turn ‘big data’ into ‘smart data’.

Smartenance
Article of 27 April 2018

Digital maintenance of facilities with Smartenance

Preventive facility maintenance is important to prevent problems that can lead to the machine standing still. In many producing plants, technicians still document maintenance procedures such as sweeping up chips, changing filters or replacing lubricants in a laborious manner with pen and paper. Festo makes digital facility maintenance possible with Smartenance. The app helps with administration, reminds you to perform tasks, documents everything digitally and thus speeds up the process.

Technik in 60 Sekunden - Fliegen
Article of 29 March 2018

Taking a close look at wings in nature

The dream of flying is one of the oldest known to humankind. In this respect, we have always looked at the animal world with fascination – a world that shows how it is done in all sorts of ways. In the Bionic Learning Network too, flying is always a recurring theme. In association with universities, institutes and development firms, Festo has, for years now, been developing research platforms whose basic technical principles are derived from nature.

Contactless measuring and weighing with superconductor technology
Article of 23 February 2018

Contactless weighing

Surfaces in clean rooms must be easy to clean and to disinfect. A new concept using superconductor technology makes contactless weighing possible.

Sprachsteuerung
Article of 26 January 2018

Talking to machines

‘Siri, what will the weather be like today?’ ‘OK, Google, turn the music down!’ ‘Alexa, order the blue trainers for me again!’ Technology that obeys words has long since become routine with voice assistants. In order for voice control to work smoothly, complex software processes run in the background. The correct interpretation of spoken commands requires plenty of preliminary work, high computing power and, last but not least, artificial intelligence.