The 1980s: Production Technology Center (PTZ) Berlin

Berlin turns Fraunhofer

Let’s rewind and remember: In 1976, it was assumed that the USSR would not accept a Fraunhofer institute in Berlin, so the institute for production engineering planned by Prof. Spur was established as a branch of Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart. However, this arrangement was purely formal from the outset. In fact, IPA-Berlin has always considered itself as an independently operating entity, as one can deduct from the young institute’s first annual report. It states that a joint institute leadership was formed to coordinate operations between the Stuttgart and Berlin branches, consisting of Prof. Hans-Jürgen Warnecke for Stuttgart and Prof. Günter Spur for Berlin. However, both had »waived responsibility for each other’s branch for reasons of practicality«.

For three years, Fraunhofer operated in West Berlin in this manner without any objection from the Soviet Union or the GDR. It is presumed, therefore, that representatives of the United States took a stand to promote the institute’s independence. U.S. diplomat John C. Kornblum is regarded an especially prominent supporter in this matter. Kornblum, who would later become the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, remained connected to the institute and, among other things, delivered a welcoming address at the Production Technology Colloquium (PTK) in 1998.

And so what had already existed de facto was formalized de jure: In the course of 1979, West Berlin declared its willingness to contribute to the federal-state funding of the Fraunhofer Society. This enabled IPA-Berlin to become independent as of January 1, 1980. Since then, it has operated under the name »Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK«.

More space for large appliances

Space remained an issue for the steadily growing Fraunhofer IPK. Although the facilities in Kleiststrasse allowed for electronic laboratory work and the operation of mainframe computers, they could not accommodate heavy equipment. Testing of machine tools took place at IWF’s test area in Fasanenstrasse. There, however, both institutes increasingly ran into space constraints – photos from the 1980s show that the test area was eventually packed to the last centimeter. Robot test stands, in particular, contributed to the space shortage.

Therefore it came in handy that in 1980, the TU Berlin was able to rent halls and office space in a decommissioned AEG factory building on Ackerstrasse. The building is an extension of the historic AEG factory complex on Brunnenstrasse, where Fraunhofer IZM is situated nowadays. The renovation took a year, and in 1981 a robotics lab was put into operation there. While there was now sufficient floor space, the »space problem« had shifted to a different dimension: Fraunhofer IPK and IWF were operating from three different locations. Collaboration within and between the two institutes was hindered by the long distances involved. It was therefore a great relief when the groundbreaking ceremony for the building that would eventually bring the two institutes together in a single, spacious location could be held in December 1982.

All about robots

For the time being, however, research on industrial robots was concentrated near Nordbahnhof. The industrial robot is a relatively new type of heavy machinery. In 1954, George Devols filed a patent for his »Unimate«, the first programmable manipulator. By the early 1960s, the first industrial robots were introduced to factory floors. This was also the case in Germany: In 1970, Unimates were to be introduced into production at Daimler. However, the German distribution partner KUKA encountered limitations that spurred the development of the first German industrial robot: the »Famulus« was also the first robot with six electromechanically driven axes. In 1974, the first fully computer-controlled robot appeared in Sweden.

It was at this point that Fraunhofer IPK joined the development effort. Headed by Prof. Spur, the institute was able to make a significant contribution to robot development in the field of control technology. However, space constraints in the early years meant that the focus had to stay on control systems and compatible circuit boards, as well as the simulation of motion sequences. With the opening of the lab, many more things became possible. Not only could path and point controls be developed, but they could also be tested directly on-site. In addition, use cases from a wide variety of fields – such as assembly, welding, brushing, or deburring – could be tested. Initial work on collaborative robots also became possible. To this end, the robotics lab was equipped with devices from all major manufacturers: for example, from KUKA, Reis, Unimation, and Manutec, a company spun off from Siemens.

Virtual robots, real production

In addition to hardware development and control programming, the simulation of industrial robot programs also became increasingly important during the 1980s. Instead of the manual online teach-in, i.e., programming directly on the physical robot, programs could now be tested in a virtual environment first without interrupting ongoing production. This laid the foundation for offline programming, a technology that is indispensable in industry today.

This was also relevant for complex 12-axis or 6+6-axis systems, in which, for example, a robot processes a part clamped on a rotary table. In the late 1980s, teams at Fraunhofer IPK even tested cooperative robots: One robot moved the tool, the other the workpiece.

Fortunate is the one in need of new premises when a close partner is planning a major spatial expansion. In the second half of the 1970s, not only the later Fraunhofer IPK was struggling with space issues. The TU Berlin was also reaching its physical limits at that time. The number of students had grown enormously between 1969 and 1979. The university staff could barely educate this student body adequately – but the available space could not accommodate additional staff. Furthermore, the university operated out of numerous rented spaces that were scattered throughout the entire downtown area of West Berlin.

Various sites were taken into consideration to expand the TU, including the so-called Spreebogen site north of Helmholtzstrasse. As part of a »comprehensive structural plan« for the TU’s expansion, a major reorganization of the properties there was proposed. The preferred concept envisioned arranging several institutes in a star-shaped pattern around a central plaza – a university forum. The faculties that would have received new buildings there were manufacturing and process engineering, mechanical engineering, food technology, transportation, and a student cafeteria. It was a wonderful idea that ultimately wasn’t implemented because the property ownership situation in the Spreebogen area was too complicated.

Comprehensive solutions inside and outside the computer

Even before Fraunhofer IPK was founded, one of the main research focuses at IWF of TU Berlin was software development. Among its achievements was the development of EXAPT, a programming language for NC machining. This naturally led to a similar focus for Fraunhofer IPK: Systems partially developed at IWF, such as COMPAC (for 3D visualizations), COMVAR (for 2D drawing creation with integration into calculation programs and production planning), CAPSY (for work planning across various manufacturing processes), CADSYM (an interactive CAD system for symbol processing), CASUS (for creating 3D models from hand drawings), or the Baustein GEOMETRIE (for converting natural language inputs into 3D and 2D representations) were expanded by the researchers for transfer to industry.

The institute’s first research projects in this area culminated in the CAD workstation »Modell Berlin«, funded by the Berlin Senate, which was presented to the public and interested companies starting in 1980. The various software systems were integrated into the Modell Berlin. At a graphics workstation, a programming workstation, and an operator workstation – all connected to a central processing unit – engineers could create CAD models and derive drawings from them, but also generate three-dimensional computer representations from hand-drawn sketches.