Press releases and news

Optimizing communication between vehicle and driver as a function of the degree of automation is the objective of a research project conducted by Fraunhofer in collaboration with other companies. The researchers are combining sensors for monitoring the vehicle interior with language models to form what are known as vision language models. They are designed to increase the convenience and safety of cars in the future.

* Fraunhofer IOSB will establish the field of AI-based large-scale robotics in the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), which has now been presented for the first time - this includes autonomous construction machines, agricultural robots and other heavy-duty machines that perform complex tasks independently. * Similar issues have so far been researched in particular at the Robotics Competence Center for Decontamination in Hazardous Environments (ROBDEKON). IOSB head of institute and ROBDEKON spokesperson Prof. Jürgen Beyerer presented the results of this work at the "AI-based Robotics" (KIRO) conference in Berlin on June 18. * The conference participants were also able to commission an autonomous excavator over 500 kilometers away to recover barrels live.

With the global population continuing to grow, food waste not only presents a resource problem but also carries a significant cost factor. Now, a new AI-supported multisensor application developed by the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies CCIT is being used to screen perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables. This technology carefully detects quality features even under the surface, making it possible to predict the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. It can be used on entire crates at the touch of a button — and customized with the addition of other sensors.

* Fraunhofer IOSB releases version 1.0 of the FA³ST service, an implementation for digital twins according to the Asset Administration Shell specification. * FA³ST (Fraunhofer Advanced Asset Administration Shell Tools) allows you to create digital twins for Industrie 4.0 applications in a matter of seconds. * FA³ST service is free of charge, open source and, thanks to its open architecture, easily expandable and configurable.

The world's first omlox test laboratory was accredited at the Fraunhofer Institute in Lemgo in November 2023. This means that Lemgo meets all the technical and organizational requirements and has the expertise to test an omlox component for conformity to the standard. The accreditation was granted by the PROFIBUS user organization. Fraunhofer would like to use the future scientific findings of the test laboratory for the further technological development of the standard in order to sustainably strengthen Germany and Europe as technology locations.

Whilst there is no doubt about its detrimental effects, corruption is a complex phenomenon that is hard to precisely grasp and measure. Thus, policy decisions are poorly informed, and technological tools to support the fight against corruption are lacking. The recently launched Horizon Europe project “Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks (FALCON)” will tackle these challenges. To this end, 25 partner organisations from 15 countries join forces. The 3-year interdisciplinary project is funded by the European Union with 4.7 million Euros under Grant Agreement ID 101121281. It is being coordinated by the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), Greece. The kick-off meeting was held September 20-21 in Athens (see photo).

What could a data space for Manufacturing-X look like in the future and what is important? The VDMA and ZVEI's blueprint study provides an impetus for this.

Under the leadership of Fraunhofer IOSB, the "Data Platforms" subproject of the Baden-Württemberg KI-Allianz (AI alliance) will lay the technical and organizational foundation for companies and startups to easily gain access to the data and AI models of others. - with the aim of establishing a market for data that promotes the development and application of innovative AI solutions. The formal grant notifications for this first sub-project of the KI-Allianz BW - totaling 5.1 million euros - were handed over to the nine participating institutions in Stuttgart on July 20, 2023.