SICK has been providing presentations, product training, and acceptance tests for customers at its own Outdoor Technology Center since summer 2018. A total outdoor testing area of 3,500 m² is available to cover seven different thematic aspects involving numerous customer applications outdoors, e. g., windrow detection for processing crop and mowed material on agricultural machinery, driver assistance systems, or the comprehensive monitoring of vehicle surroundings to increase operational safety outdoors as well. The results gained at the Outdoor Technology Center in Buchholz are merged with data from other testing stations to create a comprehensive scenario of automation solutions in outdoor use.
In addition to the Outdoor Technology Center in Buchholz, SICK also has a test area for traffic monitoring at Stans in Switzerland, a rain chamber at the Reute site, and a fog chamber at its headquarters in Waldkirch. SICK also tests its new sensors and sensor systems on the grounds of the Outdoor Technology Center, for example, the world’s first safety laser scanner certified for use in outdoor applications according to IEC 62998 – the outdoorScan3.