Success through a cross-pollination technology strategy!
Photographs: Unsplash.com
Text: Mariano Anthony Davies
Denmark is the world's best test market for robots and drones. Its drone and robotics cluster have everything you need for enhanced product development with easy access to the entire European Union.
There is no better place to test, develop and market next-generation drones and robotics than in Denmark and its full-scale test facilities. There is a long tradition for end-user collaboration that has a proven track record when it comes to developing innovative solutions for complex processes.
Both the end-users, who work with drones and robots, and the decision-makers who buy them and support research have a reputation for their openness to new technology. These skills make Denmark the most natural point of entry to the European market.
Denmark hosts a range of test sites for drone and robot applications in healthcare, agriculture and production, including opportunities for running tests with real end-users and in full-scale environments.
Drone development Drone technology has gone through significant development during the last couple of years. From being a field that was only dealt with at universities and in the defence industry, drones have now almost become a common household item. For a small sum, you can buy a drone and take pictures from places that used to be inaccessible.
The perspectives in this technology are vast and they offer access to a three-dimensional world where a bird's eye view is also available as a natural part of the solution.
It requires a new way of thinking to recognize the true potential of the technology - current drone applications are only the tip of the iceberg compared to what they will be used for in the future.
A lot of technical issues related to flying have now been solved for the drones. Therefore, it is the application of the drones - and the related technology that is installed on the drones – that is the challenge.
One of the obstacles for an even broader application of drones is their limited flight time. Therefore, the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) has explored an alternative approach where the drone is tethered via a lightweight cable to a ground base which serves as a power supply and also provides a safe, highspeed communication line. This opens up several new applications that aren't possible today.
"Denmark is the world's fastest growing robot nation within industrial robots in terms of exports."
Robotics cluster Denmark is the world's fastest growing robot nation within industrial robots in terms of exports, according to a new analysis that compares the Danish robotics industry with the world's other leading robot nations.
From 2014 to 2018, Denmark's exports of industrial robots have increased six-fold – a growth rate that far outstrips any other country. Denmark's robot exports are now larger than countries such as the U.S., Sweden and Holland.
A new analysis examines exports of industrial robots from the world's nine leading robot nations. The analysis compares Denmark's exports with countries such as South Korea, Japan, the United States, Germany, Holland and Sweden. It shows that Denmark's growth in exports far exceeds other robot nations.
Denmark's exports of industrial robots have reached the same level as China's and exceed countries such as the U.S, Sweden and Holland. Denmark's explosive growth can be contributed to a large extent to the country's unique and specialist stronghold within collaborative robots - a global market that is expected to grow to as much as €10.5 billion in 2027.
Front runner in research
Denmark has taken a quantum leap in recent years when it comes to producing drone and robotics research and knowledge, which can be applied to create innovative commercial solutions.
The University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University are the Institutions that have invested most in drone and robotics research in Denmark. Since 2013, the number of scientific articles has increased almost four times, and in 2018, Denmark produced more scientific research articles than Sweden and Holland for the first time. What is more, the quality of Danish research is above average with a high rate of referencing in other publications.