igus supports sustainable, digital future at Smart Green Island Makeathon

In its seventh edition on Gran Canaria, the Smart Green Island Makeathon took place. Hosted by ITQ GmbH, the innovation festival invites students, universities, and companies worldwide to collaborate on innovative projects in areas such as Smart Farming, Robotics, and Circular Economy. The aim is to inspire young people towards technology and advance global digitalization sustainably. Cologne-based plastics specialist and robot manufacturer igus participated for the fourth time as one of the top sponsors. Their low-cost automation experts provided on-site support and robotics solutions like the ReBeL Cobot.

Industry Challenges: From automated banana harvesting to Smart Warehousing

This year, 330 young talents and 170 representatives from industry, research, and academia, spanning 61 universities and vocational schools from 41 nations, gathered for the event. It targets international students and educators in technical fields—from programmers to engineers to IT professionals. Thirty-three sponsors and partners, including igus, presented Industry Challenges in areas like Smart Farming, Smart Green Mobility, and Circular Economy. Students organized into interdisciplinary teams, choosing challenges or developing their own ideas. Throughout the festival, they engaged with industry professionals to craft real solutions. Over four days, these young talents worked on creative projects for a more sustainable and digital future, producing initial prototypes.

Among the projects, teams tackled tasks ranging from automated banana harvesting using AI to electrifying a tractor and automated battery cell recycling powered by renewable energy. Eight teams accepted igus’ Industry Challenge focused on Smart Warehousing: developing a service robotics solution for supermarket pick-and-place tasks, aiding tasks such as shopping for older individuals. Sponsor company staff served as mentors, providing expertise and technologies. Alexander Mühlens, Business Unit Manager for Low-Cost Automation at igus, led their team, supplying components such as plain bearings, energy chains, linear axes with drives, and notably, the ReBeL Cobot. This affordable robot made from maintenance-free high-performance plastic opens up new applications in service robotics.

Hand in hand towards common solutions

Yet, a robot alone doesn’t complete an application. It requires additional components provided by various sponsors. For instance, students combined the ReBeL Cobot with a vacuum gripper from Schmalz to sort paper and plastic waste. For automatic plant irrigation and condition analysis, the ReBeL collaborated with a linear transport system from Beckhoff. Interfaces were programmed on-site. “The Smart Green Island Makeathon allows young talents to apply their university knowledge practically. They can work intensively with industrial hardware on real problems and simply experiment,” emphasizes Alexander Mühlens. “They were surprised that each team developed a working prototype in the end. This is possible only because all students and companies on-site work hand in hand on shared solutions. That, to me, is the DNA of a Makeathon.”

For more information, please visit: https://www.igus.eu