Promoting the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in small and medium enterprises – that is the purpose of the new demonstration centre ProKI (demonstration and transfer network AI in production). One out of eight centres in Germany is established at Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). As a location, Hannover is in receipt of approximately two million euros of funding provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The funding programme of the federal government is intended to transfer AI expertise available at universities into general industrial application. In addition to the location at LUH, the ProKI network comprises seven more centres. Like LUH, some of these centres are TU9 members, an alliance of nine leading technical universities in Germany. ProKI centres focusing on different topics will be established at RWTH Aachen (project coordination), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, as well as at TU Berlin and TU Darmstadt.
The centre in Hannover is led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Berend Denkena from the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools (IFW). “The ProKI demonstration centre will provide an excellent infrastructure for testing AI approaches in small and medium enterprises”, says Professor Denkena.
Small and medium enterprises (SME) are often uncertain when it comes to evaluating the benefits, limits and risks of using AI in production. In many cases, enterprises lack sufficient resources to test and boost AI application without assistance. The infrastructure in Hannover provides various ways of testing application scenarios at the Hannover Centre for Production Technology (PZH) of Leibniz University Hannover. Among other things, turning, milling and grinding machining centres as well as collaborative robots and a wide range of sensor systems are available. This way, AI approaches can be tested in practical applications – for example for monitoring tool wear during milling or for monitoring grinding processes.
In addition to the IFW, project partners include the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) and the Institute of Micro Production Technology (IMPT). The Institute of Industrial Science (IAW) will contribute input relating to industrial science matters. The L3S Research Centre of Leibniz University Hannover will provide support with developing AI approaches. The ProKI centre was launched on 1 October. Over the next months, a website will be created which will enable small and medium enterprises to contact the centre.
Note to editors:
For further information, please contact M. Sc. Dennis Stoppel, Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools (Tel. +49 511 762 18327, Email stoppel@ifw.uni-hannover.de).
