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Exhibition highlight: Service Robot City

At your service: experience service robots live

Service robots are the future – a statement backed by record-breaking growth rates and an ever-expanding scope of applications. What exactly can they help us with? How easy is it to handle them in practice? What technology are they based on? The joint Service Robot City pavilion provides answers to all important questions, and offers an exciting overview of the numerous application fields for service robots. Whether health, hospitality, retail, work, or inspection & monitoring: Experience new and innovative exhibits in action – and discover effective solutions to problems associated with the lack of specialists. Speaking of which: the Robot Restaurant is partly staffed by machines, of course. Coffee? A robot will be right with you.

Workforce of the future

An ever-increasing gap emerges as the baby boomers retire from the workforce. According to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Germany had 1.98 million vacant positions in in the fourth quarter of 2022 – an increase of 8.8 percent over the third quarter. A Prognos study predicts a workforce deficit of 2.9 million people by 2025. The service sector is hit particularly hard by these circumstances and will need automation to continue to function properly in the long run.
The consequences? Disastrous. Because, apart from catering-related businesses, labs and hospitals are affected as well – exposing every-one’s health to risks.

The good news is that service robots have seen rapid development in recent years – and are now ready for deployment in many applications. From complex surgical procedures, care in retirement homes, and transportation tasks all the way to catering or even agriculture: the diverse range of applications is far from exhausted. Even the strawberry harvest can be brought in by robots.

The potential: practically boundless

The advancing development of cobots and service robots, some of which are mobile robotic systems and AGVs, also increases their potential. Increasing versatility and improved sensory capabilities qualify these robotic systems for an ever-expanding range of tasks. Service robotics is also boosted by conventional industrial robotics: with collaborative robots, no-code programming, and all the way to robots capable of seeing and feeling.

Also: It has never been so easy to operate and program robots – even for people without strong technical knowledge. This makes service robotics a relevant key technology in all kinds of sectors and fields. And that's exactly what our new Service Robot City showcase at automatica is all about. Convince yourself of the performance achievable with a new generation of robotics offering easy programming and intuitive operation. A generation providing innovative solutions for your company, too.

The joint pavilion is implemented in cooperation with VDMA R+A and supported by Fraunhofer IPA. It is structured according to the relevant fields of application and offers opportunities for exciting hands-on experiences that form the basis for further technical discussions and concrete investment decisions.

Nice to meet you: robots on site

As different as their fields of application may be, all the exhibits presented have one thing in common: they invite interaction and offer you a fascinating live experience. In our robot restaurant, Plato from the United Robotics Group and his fellow gastronomy robots from Keenon will treat you to snacks and drinks - the latter on open trays or in closed containers, as desired. Excellentic, on the other hand, uses serving robots from the manufacturer OrionStar Robotics to distribute information material to guests in a simulated hotel lobby. Here you will also encounter the Jeeves delivery robot from Robotise, which can be used as a mobile minibar. Would you like a cocktail? The TruMixer from igus in cooperation with TruePhysics is ready and waiting!

Now let’s proceed to the lab. The uMobileLAB by United Robotics Group is responsible for sample handling around here. The UV disinfection robot HERO21 by ICA Traffic GmbH is used across all healthcare facilities – provided that no humans are around. It is quite different from the Workerbot9 Care-home by pi4_robotics, which has been designed for direct contact with residents and patients of inpatient care facilities. It performs tasks such as serving drinks and reminding people of important appointments.

The transport robots by PAL Robotics support production intralogistics. They are available with various chassis types and superstructures to support loads depending on the use case. The Tiago robotic assistant is even able to autonomously recognize and grasp required objects with its arms. With its Cary, Metralabs offers a flexible transport robot that independently picks up the loads to be transported. Its colleague Tory independently carries out inventory, for example in retail stores. Apart from logistics, floor cleaning also plays an important role in industrial application scenarios. This is where CR700 by Adlatus shines as it autonomously performs its tasks in various indoor facilities.

In addition to various robots for use in completed buildings, the Italian Institute of Technology IIT also presents a robot for construction sites. It provides support in lifting and transporting heavy objects, and in marking walls for further processing. Your application is not mentioned here? Learn what else our exhibitors have in the pipeline – and develop additional future use cases with the community on site.

Human Study #1 – Robot goes Art

Art or robot? Both. The French national Patrick Tresset is best known for his performative installations using robots as drawing machines. His work reflects the complexity and the creative aspect of robotics in art and esthetics at the same time. He collaborates with the BERGSON PULPO GALLERY to presents his most popular installation in an unusual but very apt environment: right here in our automatica Service Robot City.

Human Study #1 consists of three robotic arms, each of which is fitted on a school desk. These arms are guided and controlled by a motorized camera to draw portrait sketches. What is special about these robots: They sense the presence of the person being depicted, thus making her or him a part of the installation and performance.

My passion for robotics and performative installations allows me to delve into micro-recurring storytelling and mise-en-scène, procuring a spectacle that resonates with audiences' memories and experiences. My work is not meant to be a direct commentary on technology but a reflection of the human experience through a lens that utilizes innovative and cutting-edge techniques.” Patrick Tresset

Human Study #1

Patrick Tresset, Photo by New Media Gallery
Patrick Tresset, Photo by tommo
Patrick Tresset
Patrick Tresset

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