Winning the RoboCup world championship with igus in 2025

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Oct. 28, 2025 - PRLog -- Every year, engineers from around the globe gather for RoboCup, the world's largest robotics competition. Among the standout teams is Carologistics, a collaboration between the University of Applied Sciences and RWTH Aachen University. Since 2012, they've competed in the Logistics League, where autonomous robots simulate factory operations.

Their robot, reminiscent of Star Wars' R2D2, features an omnidirectional base and a multi-axis linear system topped with a gripper. However, recent competitions revealed a weakness: slow gripping speed. "Other teams were faster at gripping," said Daniel Swoboda, Co-Team Leader. "So, for RoboCup 2025 in Brazil, we redesigned the system."

The team replaced their lead screw drives with igus drylin ZLW-1040-S toothed belt axes and EC motors, enabling faster movement on the Z and Y axes. A robolink D rotary axis allowed the gripper to swivel independently. "We tripled our gripping speed—from 30 to 10 seconds," Swoboda noted. igus also supplied e-chains and triflex R energy chains for reliable cable management during dynamic movements.

In July 2025, the team traveled to Salvador, Brazil. The robot's task: manufacture cylinders of various sizes based on random online orders in a simulated factory. Each match required around 40 gripping actions. The new system proved both fast and reliable, helping Carologistics set a new world record—producing 8 out of 10 products, two more than the previous record.

Swoboda concluded, "We're grateful to igus for their cutting-edge technology and support. Their components played a key role in our success."

Visit for more info: https://www.igus.sg/drive-technology