"My colleague, the robot" - a popular member of staff?

Conventional automation in vehicle and aircraft construction is operated mainly in stationary systems, which are programmed at great expense for a single application and are inflexible. Synergeticon’s robot, on the other hand, can be used for multitasking. “The robot scans its environment with a multi-stage sensor system. First roughly, to get its bearings and then to solve certain tasks in a second more detailed step. The system is comparable to self-propelled cars,” said Erdelmeier. 

Robots can now perform tasks, loathed by their human colleagues, such as setting 200 screws overhead and become a welcome member of a team. Such experiences can allay fears of a robot that wipes out jobs, according to Küstner and Erdelmeier. “Apart from that, we are not dealing with general intelligence. Artificial intelligence in the robots allows them to complete certain tasks very well – but only specific tasks. Thus, humans are certainly not on the way out.” 

A training programme in the robot ensures that it learns and is intelligent. “A vast amount of work has gone into this programme,” said Erdelmeier. Synergeticon has also worked with self-learning algorithms to a certain extent. Enter deep learning! “But we have to be able to follow the robot’s every step at all times. That’s why the use of deep learning is limited.” Ultimately, Synergeticon has developed a modular system based on industrial standards, which can always be adapted to the respective requirements and supplemented with new features. 

“We are now in a prototype status and entering the testing phase. Our prototype has already passed all the tests on ZAL’s demonstrator. Now, it will undergo real-time tests at Airbus,” said Küstner. If those tests are successful, the system could be used in any industry, for instance, to build energy plants. “Siemens would be an interesting customer,” he added. A look back shows that the start-up is on the right track. By the end of 2018, 18 employees were generating seven-figure, project-based sales, without the support of an external investor. “We want to grow organically while remaining a medium-sized, well-connected company,” said Küstner.
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