Schunk CEO receives Engelberger Award for Leadership in Robotics

20 April 2011

During the 41st International Robotics Symposium, Heinz-Dieter Schunk, CEO of Schunk, received the Engelberger Robotics Award. The Engelberger Award is considered to be the most prestigious award in the robotics field. It honors individuals that have provided outstanding contributions in areas of technology development, application, education and leadership. The award is named after Joseph F. Engelberger, the founder of industrial robotics and father of the modern robotics industry.

The prize has been awarded by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) trade organization in North Amercia since 1977. Leading robot manufactur-ers, suppliers and system integrators, operators, research groups and con-sulting agencies make up the 250 members of the RIA.

Pioneer in Gripping Technology
Heinz-Dieter Schunk is a pioneer in the field of gripping technology. He recognized early on, that gripping would play a leading role in automation and robotics. He was one of the first engineers to develop standardized gripping modules. Today, Schunk is considered to be the worldwide com-petence leader in clamping technology and gripping systems with the Schunk program having more than 10,000 standard products.

As a pioneer in modular robotics, the company offers a vast modular sys-tem from which various robot structures for industry and research can be individually configurated.

SCHUNK Expert Days is the leading symposium for applied service robot-ics and has ties with over 100 universities, research institutions and highly specialized industrial companies. With this event, Schunk promotes the development of modular robotics and paves the way for completely new fields of application.