Last Thursday on 14th February the Hinterland of Things Conference 2019 took place in Bielefeld. It is a platform that connects innovative start-ups and international mid-sized companies to create a unique Internet of Things ecosystem in the heart of Ostwestfalen-Lippe.

We were part of the exhibition area where 17 start-ups in the fields of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Internet of Things (IoT), Robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) presented their companies and products.
The Hinterland of Things Conference gave us the opportunity to network and to discuss our drone applications with entrepreneurs, investors, potential clients and the general public.

We had a great time at Hinterland of Things!

Thanks to our drone ZF is now the first company in Germany to use automated drones to transport goods on its plant premises. The drone prototype with a custom user interface and a 4G LTE solution has recently started flying spare parts such as sensors or control cards from the central warehouse to workshops. As soon as the test flights are complete and drones properly deployed, such flights will relieve vehicle traffic at the plant and save time on the up to one kilometer-long delivery routes that are often on the upper floors of buildings.

The 30 km/h hexacopter can transport up to three kilograms payload and offers around 30 to 40 minutes of electrical flight operation. It is a safe and redundant system which is of course water and dust proofed.

The automated drone flights would not be possible without the official approvals for automated drone flights from the Stuttgart Regional Administrative Authority and the German Air Traffic Control DFS. Drones, mostly equipped with cameras, could until now only be used privately or commercially for tasks such as mapping, monitoring factory fences or surveying. This is now the first case in Germany where automated drones are used to transport goods on plant premises.

We came third at the Drone Pioneer Award! The award, presented in Frankfurt on 17 October as part of INTERAERIAL SOLUTIONS (part of INTERGEO), Europe’s largest civili drone show, recognizes projects that are changing the market and are helping to achieve the UN’s goals of a sustainable society. We were awarded for our project landmine detection by GPR. With the help of our drones, we want to make landmine search more efficient, safer and cheaper, and to give people in developing countries their land and thus their livelihoods.

More detailed information about the project will be available shortly.

As of today, we are happy to present our new offices at Oeko-Tech Park Bielefeld. The old water tower from 1926 has been part of Windel Bleaches for many years. Today it is part of a modern industry park with approx 100 companies on site.

Our new offices can be found at level 4, 5 and 6 of this impressive building!

Further, we are now able to do demonstrations, tests and workshops on site, with a magnificent landscape of industry roofs, chimneys, grass areas and old pipings.

We could not be happier!

 

We are delighted, happy and grateful for being Founders of the Month this November in “Das kommt aus Bielefeld”.

The portal, magazine and initiative “Das kommt aus Bielefeld” promotes Bielefeld and Ostwestfalen as an attractive and aspiring region that has a lot to offer. We are very proud to be part of this region and of it’s unique and recently very active startup community.

Read more here (german only): das kommt aus bielefeld