Day 5 - 05.16.11: Heidelberg to Munich/ABB
Visit to ABB
Today was a long day. I woke up at 6:00am so that I could take a shower, eat breakfast and finish packing before we had to leave the hotel at 7:35am. Then we took the train from Heidelberg to visit ABB. ABB is a company that manufactures all different products, from commercial light switches and equipment for chemical plants to people-friendly robots like FRIDA. We were given demonstrations for FRIDA and another robot arm that was a packaging robot. We were also allowed to play chess with some of the robots that they had set up. After all the demonstrations, we were given lunch in their cafeteria. After lunch, we split into two groups and talked with employees about what they were currently working on. My group first visited a man who was working on making electrical conductors smaller and more effective. The second employee we met talked about how ABB has this system that allows for easier repairs. If there is something wrong with a part, a little dot on the specific part holds information about what is wrong with it and the easiest way to fix it. All of this information can be read by a computer and sent to the various parties involved in fixing the problem. I was particularly interested in the robots because I might be interested in writing software that controls robots and allows them to work autonomously. I really enjoyed the visit to ABB. They are doing a lot of very interesting work to improve the manufacturing process. This really showed me why Germany is known for its precision and efficiency in engineering.
FRIDA
Packaging robot
After leaving ABB, we had a short 10-minute train ride that would connect us with our train to Munich. We got a little worried because the first train was delayed due to some construction on the tracks and we thought we would miss the second train. Luckily our second train was delayed too, so we were able to make it to Munich! When we arrived in Munich, we walked from the train station to the Wombat Hostel where we were staying. That night, we ate at an Italian restaurant and I ordered a margarita pizza, which was scrumptious!
