Status: 04/16/2023 08:42 a.m
The focal points of the Hannover Messe this year are artificial intelligence and sustainability. The developments from Germany that the industry can count on should be closely monitored.
The Hanover Fair is all about the important new trends for the industry – the opening ceremony of the world’s largest industrial fair is taking place tonight and officially begins on Monday. It is a platform for companies to present their latest innovations and technologies. Around 4000 companies are taking part this time.
One focus this year is on text robots with artificial intelligence (AI) functions. These chat systems could revolutionize the way factory workers interact with machines.
Chat systems with German participation
The so-called Industry 4.0, also known as the “fourth industrial revolution”, is significantly shaped by the use of artificial intelligence in production. But while systems from the USA in particular have made the headlines in the current hype about AI, the industrial show in Hanover will also feature initiatives with large participation from Germany.
For example, the Heidelberg AI start-up Aleph Alpha and the IT service provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced a virtual assistant with AI for industrial production in the run-up to the trade fair.
This virtual assistant is intended to enable factory personnel to communicate with the robot in natural language and with the help of images. “The AI assistant acts like a highly specialized service technician who supports the factory staff in solving very complex tasks,” said HPE spokesman Patrik Edlund.
communication through images
The dialogue takes place naturally, without a predetermined system, and the AI assistant also answers in natural language. It can also be used in different languages, even if the manual is only available in certain languages.
Communication using images works as follows: a specialist can, for example, photograph the standing position of a robot and ask whether this position is safe. “In the event of acute problems, the AI assistant can provide crucial information to prevent damage or production downtime,” the two providers promise.
Looking for product defects
Another project presented at the Hanover Fair is the cooperation between the German company Siemens and the US software giant Microsoft.
The two companies want to show how AI chat systems can be used to identify and avoid product errors. Images and videos captured by cameras are analyzed by machine learning to identify patterns and anomalies that can indicate potential errors. The goal: Errors should be detected and avoided early on, which could lead to better products and more production output – a challenge for many industrial companies.
AI-assisted programming
The project is also about program codes. In cooperation with Microsoft, Siemens will show at its booth how ChatGPT, an AI system from Microsoft partner OpenAI, can speed up the programming of codes for programmable logic controllers.
“Powerful, advanced artificial intelligence is emerging as one of the most important technologies for digital transformation,” said Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO Digital Industries. “Siemens and Microsoft are collaborating to provide tools like ChatGPT to empower employees in organizations of all sizes to collaborate and innovate in new ways.”
Another focus: climate friendliness
But the trade fair in Hanover extends the topic of artificial intelligence. This year’s motto is “Where energy and AI work together for a sustainable future.”
The Cologne-based company Cofinity-X, which was founded just two months ago, has taken on this business, for example. It is a joint venture between BASF, BMW Group, Henkel, Mercedes-Benz, SAP, Schaeffler, Siemens, T-Systems, Volkswagen and ZF. The company wants to enable secure data exchange, it says – in order to make sustainable and climate-neutral value creation possible in the entire automotive supply chain.
The goal: A precise calculation of CO2 consumption values along the value chain for customers. This should make emissions in car production more transparent.
With information from Emal Atif, tagesschau.de.