96 The Federal Republic of Germany stands at a turning point, with key political and economic issues that its government parties must contend with. A variety of short and medium-term issues within its borders, as well as threats from further afield, must be countered or outmanoeuvred. But casting shadows over these are a few long-term problems requiring significant, lengthy investment and tangible innovation to reshape Europe’s largest economy into a form that will continue to lead the continent into the 21st century. Arguably, the biggest problem is an ageing workforce. While this issue affects much of Europe, it is significantly pronounced in Germany, whose employment of 55 to 64-year-olds grew from 62% in 2012 to almost 72% in 2021. When these older staff retire, the country’s labour supply will drop off sharply, and much of the remainder will be needed to care for the retirees, leading to a squeeze on available workers for the vast German factory base. As a result, there are growing calls to automate factory processes and provide ergonomic relief for the remaining industrial workers from executives who see the potential efficiency gains of autonomous systems, and from labour eyeing more comfortable working conditions. Munich-based Magazino has a noticeable headstart on this problem, as the indoor uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) or autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) it designs and manufactures are already at work in Central European industrial facilities. The largest is SOTO, which was originally conceived to resolve the lack of autonomous solutions for material logistics between small-parts storage areas and production lines. The overwhelming majority of factories still move small components manually; for instance, with humans driving tug trains that pull small-load carriers. “Conventional goods-to-person systems can automate those processes, but they require a high initial investment, and come with limited flexibility and scalability, because they need a lot of space, and typically still need humans to A firm is building this large mobile robot to move large quantities of materials around factories, without major infrastructural needs, as Rory Jackson finds out Moving parts December/January 2025 | Uncrewed Systems Technology
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mzk4