Collaborations
Innovation through collaboration.
We firmly believe that the best way to develop innovative products is through the collaboration with extraordinary people. Both inside the company and outside it. With the right partners, the possible applications for our technology are limitless.
A strong partner network.
Solving problems all around the world requires good ideas, but above all, good collaborations and reliable partners. We firmly believe that we can accelerate the development and application of future-proof drive technology through successful partnerships. Start-ups, nonprofits, universities, or large corporations – we dedicate our energy to projects that have the potential to improve the world and meet the challenges of tomorrow.
maxon
“To achieve something that has never been done before, we need to rethink everything.”
Sponsoring
CYBATHLON – partnership with ETH Zürich.
How do you tie shoelaces with a robotic arm prosthesis? How do you climb stairs in a wheelchair? CYBATHLON, a nonprofit project at ETH Zürich, puts teams all over the world to the challenge of developing assistance technologies with and for people with disabilities, and mastering various tasks in international events.
More than 100 teams have taken part since 2013. CYBATHLON is a unique international platform for networking and demonstrates how technology, research, and development contribute to creating an accessible world.
maxon has supported CYBATHLON from day one: By 2020, one team in four was already making use of maxon products. This close cooperation also helps us improve our understanding of future product requirements.
Sponsoring
Solar Butterfly Pioneer World Tour.
It is a concept without parallel anywhere in the world: The Solar Butterfly, created by environmental activist Louis Palmer, is a self-sufficient tiny house with 80 m2 of solar panels that spread out like the wings of a butterfly at the press of a button. They supply the house with power and charge the batteries of an electric car. This solar-powered mobile home was constructed at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. maxon is one of the sponsors and has provided technical support for the solar mobile's design and construction. maxon drives are installed in the expanding walls and the “eyes” of the butterfly. Solar Butterfly is a demonstration of how people could travel, live, and work in the future without CO2 emissions.
The butterfly will spend four years traveling through 90 countries and six continents, drawing public attention to more than 1,000 pioneering projects that offer solutions for climate change.
Sponsoring
Thömus maxon Swiss Mountain Bike Racing Team.
For several years now, maxon has been working successfully with Swiss bicycle manufacturer Thömus on the development of e-bikes. The “Thömus maxon Swiss Mountain Bike Racing Team” has competed with success since 2021. In the summer of 2022, Thömus launched the world’s first full-suspension cross-country electric mountain bike weighing less than 15 kilograms, equipped with the innovative maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR. In World Cup training, the new e-bike enables more frequent training without exceeding the optimal heart rate and performance range.
Since 2023, we have also been supporting the “Thömus Akros – Youngstars Team” – twelve up-and-coming athletes that take part in national and international mountain bike races. Our knowledge transfer with Thömus is the basis of a long-term partnership.
Ralph Näf
Team Manager
Thömus maxon Swiss Mountain Bike Racing Team
“The e-bike system from maxon is perfect for our world cup training.”
Engineering partnership
Autonomous robots from ANYbotics.
Since 2020, maxon has been working closely with ANYbotics to strengthen the robotics industry in Switzerland. maxon’s contributions include developing and producing the actuators for ANYmal, an autonomous four-legged robot that can inspect and monitor industrial facilities, and perform hazardous maintenance tasks. With our expertise, our global production infrastructure, and validated processes, we can help to make ANYmal a commercial success with competitive, high-performance drive systems.
Even in geographical terms, the two companies have come closer together: maxon operates a lab on the ZURI.CH campus in the Oerlikon district of Zurich, in close proximity to ANYbotics. Here the engineers and technicians meet to discuss the progress on their projects.
Engineering partnership
Autonomous long-range solar drones from XSun.
The autonomous SolarXOne drone from XSun is the result of many years of intensive research and testing in cooperation with first-rank laboratories and universities. The teams of XSun and maxon have been working closely together since the Paris Air Show of 2019. SolarXOne is equipped with two adapted ECX 87 flat motors.
Thanks to their patented dual-wing design, the SolarXOne drones provide extremely stable and secure flight, and starts and landings can be carried out at very low speed. An onboard power system maximizes the utilization of the solar power. It is unrivaled, safe, and extremely robust. In July 2020, SolarXOne successfully completed its first long-distance flight: 12 hours long, with no CO2 emissions, silent, and fully autonomous.
Contact
Tell us about your project.
Innovation happens when people work together. We collaborate with industrial partners and technology experts at our sites in Europe, North America, and Asia to transform new ideas into market-ready products.
If you have an innovative project idea, tell us about it.
Strategic partnership
Open-source software platform from Auterion.
Cutting-edge drone technology and drone scaling is the shared goal of Auterion and maxon. This strategic partnership enables the trailblazing integration of propulsion and avionics systems for drones, and paves the way for the construction of UAV fleets.
The know-how of both companies is pooled to make the development and fleet management of drones more efficient and to drastically reduce costs. Optimal systems interplay between high-precision maxon motors, ESCs, and matching propellers, connected to a complete platform, gives customers the benefit of greater energy efficiency, flexibility, safety, and performance. We use open-source standardization that is crucial for the next phase of scaling and smooth workflow management. In the long-term, we are exploring further opportunities for collaboration in the areas of propulsion systems, autopilot communication, data exchange, and real-time monitoring.
Strategic partnership
ctrlX AUTOMATION from Bosch Rexroth.
Intelligent products and plug & produce solutions are the next step in the evolution of linear technology in machines and plant systems. ctrlX AUTOMATION is the ideal platform for extending the existing drive portfolio of Bosch Rexroth to include precision drives from maxon. This gives customers the option of integrating maxon drives into their systems for a customized drive solution. ctrlX AUTOMATION overcomes the traditional boundaries between machine control, the world of IT, and IoT. With the Linux real-time operating system, consistently open standards, app programming technology, web-based engineering, and comprehensive IoT connection, ctrlX AUTOMATION reduces the work involved for components and engineering by 30 to 50 percent.