After mechanization, mass production and automation, the so-called fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, has begun with the current trends towards complete digitization and networking of production units. These trends are promoted by the increasing individualization of products and shorter time-to-market, which place greater demands on the flexibility and versatility of production lines. Here adaptive and autonomous robot systems can make a decisive contribution.
In the Production of the Future application domain, systems and methods are being developed for this intended to enable the flexible use of robot systems. Here, the work is divided into several key areas. They include testing safe interactions of humans and robots as well as intuitive input options for the user to quickly implement new applications.
Furthermore, robotic skills are being developed for the autonomous execution of logistics and production processes. In addition, robotic work cells are being developed that can be reconfigured independently for new tasks. By reducing manual adjustment work and set-up times, as well as by intelligently executing the processes, an increase in productivity can be achieved in the future.