06.05.2019 • News

WZL and DFKI cooperate in a new research environment

from left to right: Dr.-Ing. Daniel Trauth (Senior Engineer at the Department...
from left to right: Dr.-Ing. Daniel Trauth (Senior Engineer at the Department of Manufacturing Technology of the Machine Tool Laboratory WZL of the RWTH Aachen University and Head of the Digital Transformation of Manufacturing Processes), Philipp Niemietz (Researcher and Head of the Group Digital Transformation of Forming Processes at the TF Chair of the WZL), Hannah Stein (Scientific Employees at DFKI Saarbrücken), Dr.-Ing. Patrick Mattfeld (Chief Engineer at the TF chair of the WZL), Dr.-Ing. Sabine Janzen (Senior Researcher at the DFKI in Saarbrücken), Professor Wolfgang Maaß (Scientific Director of the Research Department Smart Service Engineering at the DFKI in Saarbrücken) © DFKI, WZL

The Cognitive Manufacturing Lab (CML) is a research environment shared by the Chair of Manufacturing Technology Technology at the RWTH Aachen University Machine Tool Laboratory and the Smart Service Engineering research unit at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), which focuses on innovative concepts of AI-based production environments View of production technology, artificial intelligence and business administration in simulated and real environments.

The aim is to bring together a broad, excellent research with industrial users. In this way, breakthroughs in the application of artificial intelligence in modern production should be promoted in an interdisciplinary and collaborative manner and put into practice in a sustainable manner.

"The CML should thus become an internationally leading driver of the digital transformation of the production industry in relation to Industry 4.0 and beyond," says Professor Wolfgang Maaß, scientific director of the research area Smart Service Engineering at the DFKI in Saarbrücken. Together the topics become self-adaptive, modular production environments; Trust, security and efficiency, especially through Edge AI in production environments; Resilience management of production environments and networks; Marketplace to trade data products (economics & technology) as well as natural-immersive human-machine communication and collaboration researches. First and foremost is the joint development of the virtual Cognitive Manufacturing Lab to subsequently add further topics, professors, faculties and research areas of the DFKI and the RWTH Aachen University.

"With the CML, an important milestone for innovative and future-oriented production technology, especially involving key technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and blockchain, is laid at the Aachen location. We are very proud of the cooperation with Professor Maaß and his team from the DFKI in Saarbrücken, "says Professor Thomas Bergs, Head of the Technology Production Technology Division and Director of the Machine Tool Laboratory WZL at RWTH Aachen University.

Machine Tool Laboratory WZL RWTH Aachen University

The machine tool laboratory WZL at RWTH Aachen University has stood for pioneering research and successful innovations in the field of production technology for more than 100 years worldwide. Under the direction of the four professors Christian Brecher, Thomas Bergs, Robert Schmitt and Günther Schuh, the WZL researches the future-oriented design of production in high-wage countries in six areas - production technology, machine tools, production systems, gear technology, production metrology and quality management. Together with industry partners from various sectors, the WZL develops solutions for a variety of topics in production in both publicly funded and bilateral projects. These activities are being consolidated on the RWTH Aachen Campus in the Cluster Production Technology.

Smart Service Engineering at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Under the direction of Prof. Maaß, the Smart Service Engineering department at DFKI researches and develops KI-based services in the production and manufacturing sectors. In the foreground are mainly distributed Smart Services, which are developed on the basis of Edge AI technologies. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) GmbH was founded in 1988 as a non-profit PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP). It maintains locations in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, a project office in Berlin and a branch office in St. Wendel. DFKI is Germany's leading business-oriented research institution in the field of innovative software technologies based on artificial intelligence methods.

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