Catching-up and falling behind knowledge spillover from American to German machine tool makers

In our days, German machine tool makers accuse their Chinese competitors of violating patent rights and illegally imitating German technology. A century ago, however, German machine tool makers used exactly the same methods to imitate American technology. To understand the dynamics of this catching-up process we use patent statistics to analyze firms? activities between 1877 and 1932. We show that German machine tool makers successfully deployed imitating and counterfeiting activities in the late 19th century and the 1920s to catchup to their American competitors. The German administration supported this strategy by stipulating a patent law that discriminated against foreign patent holders and probably also by delaying the granting of patents to foreign applicants. Parallel to the growing international competitiveness of German firms, however, the willingness to guarantee intellectual property rights of foreigners was also increasing because German firms had now to fear retaliatory measures in their own export markets when violating foreign property rights within Germany

Simulation-supported evaluation of HRI-workplaces in the field of macro and micro ergonomics

© Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG In order to identify the best application scenario during the planning phase of a HRI system, a concluding macro and micro ergonomic evaluation is necessary. Therefore economy, micro ergonomics, safety and the organizational impact structures are the most important evaluation criteria. The article describes the development of an evaluation procedure based on these criteria and its integration into a simulation tool, as well as the application within an industrial use case

Development of a sociotechnical planning system for human-robot interaction in assembly systems focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises

© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. As part of a research project a holistic planning system for human-robot interaction (HRI) is developed, focusing on the applicability for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper details several important aspects of the planning system, including an easy identification method of suitable processes for HRI. A key element is the work allocation between human workers and robots. The allocation considers e.g. technical feasibility, cycle time as well as personnel deployment and can easily be carried out by SMEs. Based on a simulation, a comprehensible scenario evaluation is developed, focusing primarily on economic aspects but also including ergonomic and safety considerations