The goal of team 'Chorrobot' from Belgium's Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Flanders Make@KU Leuven is to use artificial intelligence to increase the productivity of car manufacturers and small and medium-sized enterprises by facilitating and accelerating the use of two-handed robot manipulation tasks.

The concept allows users without extensive knowledge of robotics to demonstrate some aspects of the task and specify other aspects intuitively via a graphical user interface. This approach facilitates the commissioning of challenging two-handed tasks, such as assembly operations involving non-rigid and non-fixed elements, as well as two-handed inspection operations in unstructured environments.

An international jury selected the winner of the award at Hannover Messe 2021. Dr. Kristina Wagner, Vice President Corporate Research, presented the award in a virtual ceremony. "AI and machine learning, especially in combination with robotics, open up a multitude of new possibilities and new fields of application - so there is great potential for Kuka. That's why this year's KUKA Innovation Competition was all about artificial intelligence. And we received impressive concepts from all over the world."

After the preliminary round, five international teams reached the final of the competition, which was broadcast entirely digitally due to the coronavirus pandemic. The finalists were equipped with Kuka robots free of charge to implement their ideas and were accompanied throughout the competition by experienced experts from the robotics supplier.

Kuka launched the innovation competition in 2014, focusing on different technologies in each case. The aim of the award is to promote and accelerate the transfer of technology from research to industry.