The use of artificial intelligence in industrial production is becoming more and more competitive. European companies in particular run the risk of being left behind in this technology. Yet industrial AI solutions are already available and easier than ever to implement.

A survey conducted by the Statista Research Department in December 2024 underlines the explosive nature of the situation: at 94%, the prevalence of AI technologies in production is highest in China. The USA follows in second place with a surprisingly large gap. At 46%, almost half of manufacturing companies here rely on AI. The DACH region brings up the rear with only 20%.

One person who cannot understand this is Christian Fenk, CSO at Munich-based AI specialist Robominds: "Europe is one of the global market leaders when it comes to AI solutions for production. Anyone who doubts this should come to Automatica in Munich and see the wide range of AI solutions for all areas of automation for themselves. Companies that delay their entry into this technology are risking their competitiveness."

Making the impossible possible with intelligent automation

In a production hall in northern Germany, AI plays a decisive role in the competitiveness of a plastics processor that has to pre-position a high variance of components for assembly. Traditional automation is out of the question, as the enormous variance in articles would entail an immense amount of programming and permanent adjustments to the program sequence.

Here, Robominds opted for an AI-supported solution: a combination of robots, Robobrain and special AI skills enables items to be recognized, picked and separated without manual teaching. Tobias Rietzler, CEO of Robominds, explains: "True artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing automation. It enables companies to react flexibly to product changes and remain competitive in the long term."

Intelligent 3D vision replaces teaching and programming

One of the basic prerequisites for the realization of intelligent robotics solutions is the combination of 3D vision with powerful AI. This technology enables robots to act according to the situation and take on dynamic tasks. In this way, it is possible to move away from rigidly programmed processes and the machines achieve a high degree of autonomy.

At Automatica, providers from the field of image processing, including start-ups such as Mech-Mind Robotics, will be demonstrating what such solutions look like in practice. Founded in 2016, the company has raised over 200 million US dollars in total funding with the support of Intel and other investors and is already one of the top players when it comes to mastering the most demanding automation tasks with AI and deep learning.

Trade visitors will have the opportunity to find out about the current state of the art in AI-supported image processing at the stands of exhibitors such as Basler, Carl Zeiss, IDS, MVTec and VMT. Which tasks can be solved, how easy are these systems to integrate, what do they cost and what is their amortization rate?

Programming robots with speech

Robot manufacturers will also use Automatica to showcase their innovations. Never before have so many robot manufacturers been registered as this year. Many first-time exhibitors come from Asia.

One AI topic that will be important in the near future is language programming. If robots could be programmed using natural language, the biggest hurdle to their use would be removed in one fell swoop. And indeed, the dream of simple language programming is within reach, as a look at Augsburg shows.

For some time now, a team at Kuka has been working on generative AI for the creation of programming codes. Roland Ritter, Head of Software Portfolio Management at Kuka, sums up what this is all about: "We are currently developing an AI chatbot that converts commands in natural language into code in order to program the robot for the task at hand. If this is successful, anyone can get started with robot programming."

The tests are still being carried out in a virtual environment and the digital twin is still being used to test the AI-generated robot programs and make them fit for use in the real world. But development is progressing and it is only a matter of time before AI assistants and robot programming go hand in hand.

Mobile robots: autonomous use thanks to artificial intelligence

As with stationary robots, artificial intelligence also plays a key role in mobile robotics. This is likely to have the greatest impact in the field of autonomous navigation, as AI makes it possible to use AMRs completely autonomously in complex, constantly changing environments. It is not without reason that ABB Robotics acquired Sevensense Robotics in 2023. The Swiss company specializes in VSLAM technology (Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). This AI-supported technology is considered a game changer that enables AMR to orient itself in an unknown environment and navigate precisely. Sami Atiya, Head of ABB's Robotics & Factory Automation business unit: "Equipped with vision technology and AI, each mobile robot scans a specific part of the building. The fields of view of all robots are merged into a complete map so that the AMRs can work autonomously even in rapidly changing environments."

Automatica will also show which systems the many suppliers of AGVs and AMRs rely on for their navigation and which different logistics tasks can be solved with them. Just like the market, the range on offer is huge. And this applies to the entire range of products in all exhibition areas, from grippers to cobots: AI is everywhere and this technology ensures quantum leaps in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.