The Lortek Technology Centre, a partner of Robotekin, organised the third meeting of the Robotekin Topaketak initiative at its headquarters in Ordizia, opening its doors to the Basque Country’s robotics and automation ecosystem, sharing its expertise and outlining the challenges it currently faces.
Indeed, connecting, sharing and disseminating are the strategic pillars of the Basque Robotics and Automation Association – Robotekin – as highlighted by its Director General, Leire Balzategui, in her welcome address to this latest edition of Robotekin Topaketak.
Lortek is a technology centre, a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance and a cooperative within the Mondragón Corporation. Specialising in the digitalisation of joining technology and advanced manufacturing, it employs over 70 researchers and has been innovating for industry for more than 20 years. It has a clear focus on industry and technology transfer, and expertise in robotics applied to complex processes.
At this latest edition of Robotekin Topaketak, Fran Huertos, Director of Digital Strategy at Lortek, gave a presentation entitled ‘Towards Autonomous Welding: Applied Robotics and Vision’, in which he outlined the current industrial landscape. “There is a shortage of welders. It is said that the United States is short of 360,000 welders. Furthermore, the current market has changed significantly; whereas in traditional robotics a single robot produces thousands of parts, now a robot must not only perform repetitive tasks but also understand its environment. Previously there was a single reference point; now there are many references in small batches, with higher demands and quality standards,” noted Huertos, whilst also highlighting the challenges of applying robotics and machine vision to welding and additive manufacturing processes, which enable progress towards autonomous processes.
In his presentation, the Director of Digital Strategy outlined the development of robotic solutions with 2D and 3D vision applied to various welding and inspection processes, demonstrating how this technology helps operators to produce more and better, whilst remaining competitive.
Following the presentation, the members of Robotekin who attended this latest Robotekin Topaketak event had the opportunity to visit the SMARTLAB that Lortek operates at its Ordizia headquarters, as well as the various facilities and workstations where they are developing innovative solutions in digital and smart manufacturing.
The Director of Digital Strategy and the Digital Manufacturing Systems Researcher, Fran Huertos and Iñaki Sainz, were responsible for explaining the various areas of this Technology Centre, as well as the different tasks and projects they carry out in collaboration with companies and partners, primarily from their local area. In fact, LORTEK brings together technologies and capabilities applied to various industrial sectors, such as machine tools, energy, automotive, rail, aerospace, shipbuilding, steelmaking and boilermaking, amongst others.
“At Robotekin, we believe that this type of event is extremely useful for connecting with the various partners within our network, sharing the projects and challenges faced by each member, and highlighting success stories that can help other members of the ecosystem,” said Robotekin’s director, Leire Balzategui, who congratulated Lortek on organising this event, whilst thanking the representatives of the various companies, organisations, technology and training centres, and start-ups who attended and actively participated in this Robotekin Topaketak.
