Interview: "VDA 5050 as a Common Language"

At this year's Logistics Workshop in Graz (see also "Technical Logistics", Issue 5/26, Page 28), the topic of mobile robotics took center stage, bringing the VDA 5050 interface into focus. Constantin Enke, a research associate at KIT, leads the technical development of VDA 5050 and was a sought-after expert on this very topic at the event. Jan Kaulfuhs-Berger, editor-in-chief of "Technical Logistics", met him on the sidelines of this event at TU Graz.

Jan Kaulfuhs-Berger: Constantin Enke, you are heavily involved with VDA 5050 at KIT. However, not everyone in the industry knows you. Perhaps you could start with a few words about yourself.

Constantin Enke: Certainly, I have been working for five years as a research associate at the Institute for Materials Handling and Logistics Systems at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. There I conduct research on mixed fleets of mobile robots and lead the technical development of VDA 5050.

There we are, right in the middle of the topic – well, of your topic.

(laughs) Yes, although the VDA 5050 is neither my invention nor that of the KIT. It is a joint initiative by VDA and VDMA. KIT coordinates the technical development.

For everyone who still has to catch up: What exactly is the VDA 5050?

In a nutshell?