On April, 11^th and 12^th 2018, the ZeMA – Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology organized the annual Montage-Tagung in Saarbrücken, Germany. This year’s 10^th Montage-Tagung was opened by the federal prime minister of the Saarland, Tobias Hans.

This conference approaches topics on production processes and technologies. New technologies as well as I4.0 topics such as big data, human-robot-collaboration have been presented and discussed. Renowned speakers from companies like AUDI, BMW AG, Daimler, DFKI, Festo Learning Center, Ford, KUKA Systems, Leica Geosystems, Robert Bosch and ZF Friedrichshafen held informative and trend-setting lectures on the latest trends and developments in the automotive industry, the human-centered design of product and process, knowledge services and knowledge transfer within the company as well as the new combination of production technologies.

Besides the presentations and networking, the conference offered a trade fair where various companies and projects presented practical examples from the industrial production. So RICAIP with human-robot-collaboration applications. The federal prime minister of the Saarland, Tobias Hans, also visited the trade fair and got an insight about current projects of ZeMA and its partners:

 

The event was held after Prague and Berlin in Saarbrücken, Germany, on the 11th – 13th of October 2017. It has focused on activities that have accelerated in August 2016 with the signing of a cooperation agreement between DFKI – the German Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics, CTU in Prague, with the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Both of these research organizations have been intensively collaborating on a joint innovation lab for people and robots and other projects, in particular for the implementation of the new RICAIP Centre.

 

The workshop program focused on the topic of integration of research and production in Industry 4.0, specific human-robot collaboration scenarios and their integration into production processes. The meeting was also attended by a delegation of four partners of the new Czech-German RICAIP (Research and Innovation Centre for Advanced Industrial Production): besides the DFKI and CIIRC CTU, also the German Centre for Mechatronics and Automation ZeMA and CEITEC BUT Brno. RICAIP will connect testbed research facilities in the Czech Republic and Germany and will create an integrated test research structure for distributed production.

 

The workshop was supported by the Federal Minister for Research, Ms. Prof. Johanna Wanka, who said in her video entry: “There is no other European country with which we work so closely together in the areas of Industry 4.0 and robotics. Without the initiators of this cooperation, CIIRC Director Prof. Vladimír Marík and the Director-General of the DFKI, Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster, such a profitable cooperation could not take place.” The Minister highlighted the similarities between the industrial base in mechanical and plant engineering in the Czech Republic and Germany and congratulated the RICAIP partners to a successful start of the project. The whole speech can be seen here.

 

For the first time, DFKI introduced a scenario that allows interrupting, reconfiguring, and restoring workflows in a collaborative Industry 4.0 workflow, without any need to manually redefine workflows. In this case, the workpiece that is transported on the MIR robotic mobile platform will be randomly selected for inspection. The MIR responds to the appropriate signal, diverts the planned route, and continues autonomously after the interruption. A so-called system demonstrator was also introduced under the Hybr-IT project, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Besides the DFKI, the ZeMA presented application-oriented demonstrators in the field of automotive and aircraft production among other things. New production and commissioning technologies were shown – focusing on the core themes of Industry 4.0 and Human-Robot-Cooperation, which are being researched at the ZeMA in many applications.

 

For more information, see the press release on DFKI website (in German).

As every year, the Researchers’ Night will take place again and BUT CEITEC als well as CVUT-CIIRC will be a part of it:

The first Friday in October will be a sign of mobility in the Czech Republic. This is the central theme this year’s Researchers‘ Night, which will take place in more than 20 places all over the country. The night of scientists starts all at 17:00 and ends before midnight. Specific program at the particular venues can be found at www.noc-vedcu.cz.

Last year, the Researchers‘ Night attracted almost 47,000 visitors of all ages. The event is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the UN, the Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic and also the Deputy Prime Minister for Science, Research and Innovation.

 

For more information, please see the following links:

	Programme (only in Czech) More Information
	Programme (only in Czech) More Information

On 4 September, with almost two hundred guests, the RICAIP project celebrated its official Kick-Off together with two other major events:

Besides the official start of the project, the National Center of Industry 4.0 (NCP 4.0) was established by the solemn signature of a Memorandum in cooperation with the founding partners. The center aims to disseminate awareness on Industry 4.0 and develop close cooperation between the academic and industrial spheres.

Furthermore, CIIRC introduced the Testbed for Industry 4.0 as a new research and experimental workplace for testing innovative solutions and processes for so-called smart factories.

 

For more information:

• Official press release
• Article in the paper Hospodářské noviny
• Report of the Czech Technical University in Prague
• Photo Gallery

 

Impressions:

Source: Roman Sejkot, CIIRC CVUT