at the centre of booth 7512 in hall 7 the mobile production assistants of the apas family, which bosch has developed especially for collaboration with humans. the apas assistant with its patented sensor skin, for instance, has been certified by the germany occupational health and safety agency to work directly alongside people without the need for safety guards. this safety concept is now expanded by the new option apas speedswitch and the robot kinematics apas safekin, which will both be presented to the public at motek for the first time. moreover, opcon will make its debut in stuttgart. the modular automation system makes it possible to control production and quality data, as well as logistics processes along the entire value chain.tried and tested solutions for the factory of the futureall solutions shown at motek are already successfully in use within the bosch group, as volker hartmann, deputy vice president business unit assembly systems and special machinery at bosch, points out. &ldquothe apas assistants have been tried and tested in many bosch facilities throughout the world. now they are also available for external customers.&rdquo thanks to its standardized operating concept and its interconnectivity, the apas family, which currently consists of three production assistants, can be flexibly integrated into manufacturing processes. &ldquothe factory of the future requires more and more machines and robots that can flexibly take over from stationary manufacturing systems along the entire production chain,&rdquo says wolfgang pomrehn, product manager of the apas family. &ldquoat the same time, the possibility of direct interaction with humans and subsequently safety aspects play an important role.&rdquoall three apas production assistants are therefore designed to support technical staff with critical process steps, monotonous and messy jobs, and above all to collaborate directly with human beings. the apas inspector, for instance, is equipped with a highdefinition camera and an innovative 3d technology and inspects highly delicate surfaces or performs complete checks. the apas flexpress, in turn, is a mobile production assistant for highly flexible and highly accurate assembly. the integrated safety technology ensures that staff and production assistants can work together smoothly.apas assistant humanmachine collaboration without safety guardsthe safe interaction of humans and machines is at the heart of the apas assistant. it is equipped with a sixarm industry robot arm, a sensitive threefinger gripper and a 3d camera system, and was developed especially for direct collaboration with human beings &ndash without special safety guards. as opposed to other robot systems, the gripper arm of the apas assistant is covered with a highly sensitive sensor skin. even without direct contact, this skin allows the system to realize whenever a member of staff comes too close. it then immediately stops its work and waits until the employee has left the danger zone. &ldquothis application is unique in the market and enables man and machine to work hand in hand,&rdquo pomrehn explains.market launch apas safekin, safe robot kinematic for separate applicationto date, customers could only use the robotic arm with its sensor skin as a fixed component of the apas assistant. under the name of apas safekin, it will now be presented as separate component at motek for the first time. &ldquowe are reacting to the large number of requests we have received,&rdquo says pomrehn. &ldquoas of 2016, the robot kinematic with its sensor skin protection can also be applied independently from the apas base &ndash in this case preferably firmly incorporated into a certain production section.&rdquoworld premiere for apas speedswitchapas speedswitch will also complement the safety concept of the apas assistant from the beginning of 2016 on. the new function, which is showcased at motek for the first time, makes it possible to monitor the entire immediate vicinity of the sensor skin, and to adapt its working speed to the presence or absence of human beings. the extended far range is controlled via the speedswitch interface. &ldquocurrently, the apas assistant always reduces its speed and adapts it to humans,&rdquo pomrehn says. &ldquoin the future, it will flexibly adapt its speed to its surroundings thanks to apas speedswitch as long as no staff is near by, it works at maximum speed. as soon as someone enters the close range, the apas assistant automatically switches to a safe speed. this results in higher productivity without cutbacks on occupational safety.&rdquocomprehensive shopfloor management with the opcon suitethe opcon suite with its it shopfloor solutions also offers maximum safety, flexibility and transparency along the entire production chain. &ldquothe opcon suite has been continuously refined for more than 15 years and is used for the control of hundreds of production machines within the bosch group,&rdquo hartmann explains. in stuttgart, bosch focuses on the opcon shopfloor management module, which enables an efficient planning and control of production, quality and logistics processes. thanks to its large range of software modules, opcon shopfloor management makes it possible to connect different machines and to analyse production data in realtime.the easytooperate graphic tools support staff in detecting critical conditions, localizing defects and initiating countermeasures. thanks to a collaboration with fraunhofer igd institute in rostock, visitors to stuttgart will be able to see a 3d visualization of an entire production process, monitored and managed via a big touch screen.the opcon dashboard, a central and interactive display system for production processes, provides higher transparency and control. reports, machine and quality indicators, as well as kpis such as oee values can be compiled and analysed on the touchscreen. opcon management view enables managers and production directors to retrieve realtime information from production equipment all over the world. the opcon shiftbook further facilitates a complete digital shift planning, including records of machine downtimes and disruptions. dashboard and shiftbook are complemented by new applications for mobile devices, which support production personnel in performing fast monitoring and failure analysis. thanks to the new opcon smart maintenance application, service and maintenance orders can be placed directly at the machine. a new augmented reality app enables staff to retrieve information such as current production data or user manuals onsite, while looking into the machine without even opening itmore details at  httpwww.boschpresse.depresseforumdetails.htmlocaleen&txtid7409