Innovative ideas from young research teams, a showcase in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for simpler robot programming and the “Follow the Twin” challenge of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance: these are the topics with which the automation company KUKA from Augsburg will be represented at Hannover Messe in April.
“For us, this year’s Hannover Messe is all about innovation as well as clever, young researching talents,” says Wilfried Eberhardt, Chief Marketing Officer at KUKA. With regard to the KUKA Innovation Award, everything revolves around the skilled trades and SMEs. The teams have developed creative robotics solutions for bakeries, bending processes or clothing companies. In Hanover, they will be presenting their innovations to an international audience on around 200 square meters in hall 5, stand D12, from April 22 to 26. On Thursday, April 25 at 11 a.m., the winner of the €20,000 Innovation Award will be chosen by the jury directly at the KUKA trade fair stand.
At the Microsoft stand: Artificial intelligence creates the KUKA programming code
At the Microsoft stand (hall 17, stand G06), KUKA will be demonstrating how AI can simplify programming in the future. The aim is to make it as easy as possible for customers to access automation. AI will make a major contribu-tion to this in the future. A team from the Augsburg-based technology company is currently working on how AI can support the creation of programming code. The chatbot Microsoft Copilot is used for this purpose.
In the long term, AI is intended to supplement the classic input that is currently made via the KUKA smartPAD. It would then be possible for end users to give so-called prompts, i.e. text input or voice instructions, directly to the AI. The AI then creates the code to program the robot for the respective task.
“Follow the Twin” challenge of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance with KUKA and Device Insight
As a founding member of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance (OI4), KUKA will be taking part in the “Follow the Twin” challenge together with its digital subsidiary Device Insight and will be represented at the OI4 trade fair stand. The OI4 Alliance wants to show visitors that the introduction and handling of digital twins is less complex than some industrial companies assume.
The “Follow the Twin” competition will lead visitors across the trade fair to the stands of Alliance members. At the stands, QR codes mark the digital twin of the devices and exhibits on display. When a code is scanned, the corresponding web app opens. Anyone who finds and scans digital twins – all of which are stored by the companies in the new cross-manufacturer standard format of the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) – can take part in a raffle for prizes at the OI4 Alliance stand.