The entire tech world is betting on autonomous systems

The Northern Netherlands is focusing on autonomous systems in the coming years. Europe is coming here to test and scale up new developments and technologies related to this. That is the goal of EDIH-NN. At the Hannover Messe, April 17-21, it did become clear how important those autonomous systems are in the Smart Industry.

Almost every industrial technology company is pushing it: autonomous systems. The combination of a.i. and technology is going to play a major role in our factories, infrastructure, throughout society. Logical, because the benefit to be gained is huge. From image recognition and self-learning robotics to complete production lines that set up themselves, and a lot in between. It's here, or it's coming soon.

''When I was walking around the Hannover Messe in April, I came across autonomous systems really everywhere,'' says Pieter Dibbits. He is project manager of the Smart Industry Hub North Netherlands and holds the same position at the recently formed European Digital Innovation Hub North Netherlands (EDIH-NN). And let the latter have autonomous systems as its theme.

Everything is getting smarter. That much is clear. And data are smarter and more reliable than the human mind in several areas. Where humans are mostly mindful of exceptions, data are better at looking at patterns and longer time frames. Translated to a factory: human senses detect a beep, a vibration or a noise in the production line and spring into action. Data had identified the flaw beforehand because of changes in the pattern.

Data are the backbone of Smart Industry, as well as autonomous systems. Only with autonomous systems, they are able to learn from data themselves and take action themselves when needed. All based on smart algorithms. This is true of a smart camera that sees an anomalous bottle on a brewer's production line and decides itself to remove the bottle.

It also applies to a robot that understands which parts to pick out of a pile and which it is better to leave out. Or the self-propelled cart that discovers that material at the line has run out and rushes to the warehouse to get new material. It's all happening already.

With autonomous systems, industry and logistics become more efficient and flexible. Errors are detected earlier, the most effective processes found, work taken off your hands, better decisions made. And that is much needed in a future where technical personnel are becoming scarcer and sustainability more important.

''Autonomous systems allow you to reconfigure your entire production line if the market demands it,'' says Smart Industry expert Anno Cazemier. ''This makes production more flexible and cost-efficient. Self-learning machines take over work from people, of whom we will soon have too few.''

At the world's largest industrial technology fair, the Hannover Messe, we saw during the April tour that autonomous systems have an important place. Not necessarily as stand-alone products, more as an integrated part of lots of innovations on display. From robots to production lines, from machines to software solutions: they are everywhere.

''We desperately need them to help us get through the social challenges we face in the best possible way,'' says EDIH-NN program manager Hans Praat. ''Think of the transitions in energy supply, food transition, healthcare, industry, construction, infrastructure. We need autonomous systems everywhere. In Hannover you saw that the whole world is working on it. In the Northern Netherlands, innovations can be extensively tested in the facilities we are now setting up.''