Dresden. In its early days, the Dresden startup Wandelbots caused a sensation with a sensor jacket. A worker could show a robot a work step and the robot then “learned” it with the help of special software. Later, using a similar principle, the outlines of components were traced and automated using a pen, the “trace pen”. What excited many people at the time was, from today’s perspective, just the first step for a much larger project: a separate operating system for automating robots.
The Wandelbots management team will rely entirely on software in the future. The “Nova” operating system is the central hub. Photo: Wandelbots
A role was also played by the fact that, according to Wandelbots, the individual projects generated income, but at the same time were quite complex and hardly scalable. After turning away from robots, 30 employees left the company through a volunteer program, Wandelbots said in an interview with Gründerszene magazine.
Software is intended to make robots accessible to everyone
The new focus was probably clear from this point onwards: software only. Instead of just being an application in a system, Wandelbots wanted to be the system itself – an operating system. On Monday, Wandelbots presented this system called “NOVA” in Dresden.
“Just as Android revolutionized smartphones and Windows changed the PC world, ‘NOVA’ will make industrial robotics accessible to everyone and enable new types of commercialization for software developers,” said CEO Christian Piechnick. Solutions like those used before with the sensor jacket and the pen are still possible, but Wandelbots no longer does it itself.
In order for the operating system to be easy and uncomplicated to use, the Wandelbots employees have to complete an extensive workload during development. Photo: Wandelbots.
Help for self-help
“We no longer try to build these solutions independently because they are very special. (…) An application for welding looks fundamentally different than a solution for painting.” Medium-sized companies, for example, have this specialist knowledge. And with the new operating system they would now have a kind of toolbox to program robots for these tasks. “We give them the tools to do this much faster and more efficiently than they could ever do otherwise,” emphasizes Christian Piechnik.
This is what the home screen of the “Nova” operating system looks like. Photo: Wandelbots.
3M expert: Barriers to automation are falling
Carl Doeksen, who is responsible for automation at the American technology group 3M, explained exactly how this works in the company, using the example of workpieces that need to be ground.
“Today, the majority of grinding applications are still carried out manually. ‘Wandelbots NOVA’ will lower the hurdles for companies to automate such processes. With ‘NOVA’, users have access to the necessary process know-how to select the right abrasive materials; They can easily enter the parameters for their workpiece and set the desired end state via a simple user interface.”
For 3M, ‘Nova’ presents an opportunity to not only equip end users with the tools they need, but also to make 3M’s expertise in process technology more accessible, Doeksen said. On that evening in the Albertinum in Dresden, well-known companies such as Volkswagen and the automotive supplier Schaeffler presented how they would like to use the ‘NOVA’ operating system for their purposes. They were satisfied with the first test runs.
Fewer errors thanks to virtual twin
In addition to the platform idea, which enables robots from different manufacturers to be easily programmed and controlled without specific specialist knowledge, Wandelbots also wants to score points with companies through a cooperation with Nvidia. Keyword: virtual twin. According to the startup, by integrating “Wandelbots NOVA” with the “NVIDIA Omniverse” platform, exact digital twins of robots, factories and even moving workpieces can be created. These could be simulated before real use. This is intended to increase efficiency and reduce potential errors.
AI calculates complicated movements
There is also a cooperation with Microsoft. This is intended to ensure access to AI – i.e. artificial intelligence. According to the information, this can be used, among other things, to calculate complicated axial movements of robot arms, which would otherwise take a lot of time.
The Wandelbots team has had a busy time that is far from over. In order for ‘NOVA’ to appear and be so easy to use, extensive processes are necessary in the background. “What we are building here is just as complicated as constructing a space shuttle,” says Christian Piechnick. The new operating system will officially come onto the market in spring 2025 after an extensive testing phase.
Dresden startup Wandelbots is throwing out the robots
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