Motion plastics and robot component producer igus GmbH recently announced the winners of its 2024 vector awards. The company said its vector awards are a biennial competition that honors bold, exciting projects that incorporate igus e-chain cable carriers.
The winners of the 9th vector awards - selected from 328 applications from 37 countries - were decided by a panel of research, press, and industry experts.
The gold vector was awarded by igus to the University of Lisbon’s Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, where researchers developed a spectrograph with a moon-sized field of view and ability to simultaneously observe over 1,000 objects in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The spectrograph incorporates igus triflex series energy cable carriers, ensuring reliable operation even at an altitude of 2,670 meters, or about 8,760 feet.
The silver vector was awarded to U.S. company TDK RF Solutions for its vehicle-in-the-loop automotive test rig for driver assistance technologies. The rig includes a turntable, surrounded by antennas that expose the vehicle to high electric fields. To guide the control cables and compressed air hoses along the system's five axes, engineers used igus 1400 series energy chains, which they wound into spring cable reels from the igus e-spool series.
Additional winners included French company MECAoctet, which received the bronze vector for its movable nightclub ceiling with igus e-spool products, as well as Bear Machines GmbH, which received the green vector for its environmentally-friendly vehicle tire recutting machine, which includes chainflex cables and E2 e-chain cable carriers.