Zona Engineering & Design was founded in Turin in 1986, bringing together in its constitutive formula the activity of mechanical design with that of industrial design understood in the original Anglo-Saxon formulation of the term. It was born from the intention of offering companies an unusual service in the Italian industrial landscape; not resources consisting of a number of hours available thanks to the presence of a certain number of employees, but the experiences of the founders for an inventive activity of solving design problems.
To do this, it uses means and professionals who are experts in:

– 3D CAD modeling and 2D drawing

– Static and dynamic structural calculation with FEM programs

– Creation of verification animations and 3D illustration for complex assemblies

The two strands of Project and Design have developed in parallel with frequent and significant interactions. Some events have historically determined particularizations – reported below – which are in any case attributable to the domain of robotics, a sector to which the experience of the founders mainly refers.
Since 1995, the mechanical design activity has mainly been directed towards the space sector, thanks to the company’s involvement in the activities of Tecnospazio, a company at the time jointly formed by Comau and FIAR.

The project related to:

CAT Robot (Columbus Automation Testbed) for the future European space station on order ESA (European Space Agency)

Since 2000, thanks to the merger of the Fiar company (from Ericsson) into the Galileo Avionica group of Finmeccanica, and at the beginning of the relationship with Thales Alenia Space, the company has also been involved in military-type projects. Projects related to:

Grifo MG avionics radar for Mig type combat aircraft
High mobility terrestrial radar system PAR (Precision Approach Radar)

Rover for moon (ESA Project in partnership with Thales -Alenia Spazio for space exploration)

Since 1988 until today, Zona Engineering has been involved – as an ordinary activity – in projects relating to special CNC machines for industry such as:

– Micro EDM machining
– Milling machines for metals, glass, wood, stone
– Measuring machines (metrology)
– Agricultural machinery (round balers)
– Injection molding machines
– Special railway devices
– XRF equipment for metal analysis

From 2015 to today, Zona Sas explores the themes of self-propelled robotics and involves other partners who deal with hardware and software in the sector of non-terrestrial drones for industrial use plus the Federico II University of Naples (Institute of Automation).
In particular, six new patents are obtained from it, destined to give life to a series of machines specialized in five application sectors:

– Off-road vehicles for civil protection with dual intervention function
– On-road vehicles for service in large manned areas: airports, refineries, industrial plants
– Military vehicles with high mobility
– Tractors and agricultural vehicles
– Automotive with particular regard to electric traction