A lesson in Romanian invention

Mircea Tudor and his team of specialists obtained a place in the history of inventions with a scanner meant to limit contraband in customs. After being awarded the grand prix at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, Tudor's company, MB Technology, became leader of the high-tech field, competing with giants such as General Electric, Rapiscan, Smiths Detection, and Nuc Tech China.

This is the first such prize ever won by a Romanian. Roboscan competed against one thousand other inventions from 45 countries. The story began five years ago. "In 2004, I started investing the company's money in researching this project. I hired 15 specialists in nuclear physics, electronics, informatics, telecommunications, hydraulics, and mechanics, and we started working," Tudor said. However, it was no smooth ride. The inventor had to mortgage everything he had to obtain €6 million in loans, the amount invested in the project. "For the companies we are competing against, this is nothing, but for us the effort was huge," Tudor added.

The Romanian inventor applied for help from the Romanian state for the Roboscan research, and received nothing, he used his own funds, mostly from loans, for this work. He was on the verge of bankruptcy many times, but said he never stopped believing in the potential of the business.

Roboscan is the most advanced truck scanning system. It weighs a mere 7.5 tons, compared to the 28-ton product promoted by the competition, which makes it easily manageable. The invention, which costs over €1 million, requires just seconds to offer a complete picture of the content of trucks that cross the border. Only this year, following the Geneva success and Roboscan's international recognition, did the state become interested in Tudor's work.

The surprising development of a robotic product by a seemingly insignificant player on the international market has catapulted MB Technology into the spotlight of major companies in the industry. The control held by six multinationals - General Electric, Rapiscan, Smiths Detection, Nuc Tech China, L3 Anglia, and American Source&Engineering, which post combined annual sales worth billions of euro - was taken away by a small Romanian enterprise.

standard.money.ro