The vision of the European research project 'SMErobotics', which is coordinated by Fraunhofer IPA, is to develop intelligent, adaptive and cost-effective robot systems that can be used in small and medium-sized production facilities without a great deal of effort. A corresponding exhibit at Automatica is intended to show how welding can be carried out economically even with batch size 1: The corresponding welding robot can be guided by sensors and learns from the welder. It can also be programmed quickly and easily for new components, draws on past welding experience and can therefore apply the knowledge it has learned. Intelligent robot systems therefore do not consistently follow one-off instructions, but learn intuitively and efficiently from the humans who operate them. Another example of how robots can relieve the burden on humans in the manual workplace ...