EasyAssist Robotics

People with disabilities are not yet fully integrated on the first labor market. In fact, over 60 % of all companies in NRW do not comply with the legal requirement to include people with disabilities. Although these companies must pay a penalty, it is often less of a financial risk than making workplaces accessible to people with disabilities. Workstations with collaborative robots are an important tool for inclusion in manual labor tasks, but they are usually expensive because they must be customized for the process and the person. EasyAssist Robotics employs a lenient design process and modular system to make those workstations much more affordable. The vision is to offer workstations for less than €37,500 and include a government subsidy which covers up to €30,000 of the overall investment. Therefore, companies may include people with disabilities at a much lower financial risk. In addition, the team takes over the role of a service provider for maintenance of the workstations for at least five years to comply with the legal requirements. EasyAssist Robotics also helps with grant applications and employs an easy-to-use web interface for configuring the workstation according to process and disability types. In the team’s vision, inclusion is not a complex task involving financial risks, but a social driver that counteracts the consequences of an aging society and should be accessible to everyone.