In the realisation of mechatronic system solutions, mercatronics GmbH uses a well-equipped toolbox: in addition to the development and production of mechanical and electronic components, microcontrollers (including Arduino and ARM), PLC technology and robot systems are integrated into cost-effective solutions and supplied from prototype to small series. Project management and software development complete the portfolio. Apps for iOS, Android and Windows Mobile as user interfaces are increasingly gaining customer interest.

Increasing productivity & product quality as well as automation & digitalisation in plastics processing

To this end, SHS offers solutions from the four business areas of:

• Consulting
• Simulation
• Automation
• Virtual assistance

NectOne® was founded as a spin-off from the Chair of Mechatronics at the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2015. The founder, Dr. -Ing. Sebastian Feldmann worked several years as solutions architect of ERP and CRM systems at various integration projects. While finishing his PhD he was the leading engineer for several key-projects like the humanoid robot HUMECH (www.humech.de) and FAROMIR (www.faromir.de).  NectOne supports customers in development and implementation of industry 4.0 solutions at complex mechatronic systems, in Robotics, Industrial Production and Automotive application.

The large number of students in teaching creates a considerable amount of work for examinations, both in conducting the examinations and in the subsequent correction. To reduce this effort, a software package was created that simplifies the creation and execution of electronic examinations. The programme makes it possible to "programme" examination tasks. This means that the tasks are created in the form of code or algorithms. From this input, a desired number of individualised and randomised tasks or examinations are automatically generated. Within a task, numbers, images, diagrams, texts and also the solution methods can vary. The examinations generated with the help of examU are thus inherently deception-proof, as the examination participants are not able to exchange correct results with each other. The generated tasks are also checked for plausibility using predefined boundary conditions to ensure that all generated tasks are mathematically valid and make sense in terms of content. At the same time, a sample solution is also generated fully automatically for each task. The generated exams can be imported into various LMS systems. It is particularly easy to use moodle as an LMS examination platform. The company examU was founded to distribute the software outside the University of Duisburg-Essen.

As part of the EXIST research transfer program, red cable robots is currently working on a project to become the world's first manufacturer of industrial cable robots. The company is a spin-off of the Mechatronics Department of the University of Duisburg-Essen. red cable robots GmbH was founded in 2023 and is currently planning to launch its products in 2025.
A cable robot consists of a tool-carrying platform that is moved by coordinated winding and unwinding of cables connected to it. This approach keeps the mass to be moved low, allowing large workspaces and high dynamics to be achieved in an energy-efficient manner. Similar to conventional industrial robots, any tool can be attached to perform a variety of tasks automatically. However, compared to cable robots, conventional robot systems are physically limited in their reach. Automation systems become more expensive and slower as the size of the work area increases. As a result, robotic applications in large workspaces, with large workpieces, or with high dynamics requirements can be difficult or impossible to implement. With cable robots, however, this is possible and opens up completely new automation possibilities.
The project team is building on decades of research experience and can look back on many successful projects, some of which have even met with an echo at the Federal Ministry level (see e.g. LINK).