Concentrated AI expertise in Baden-Württemberg
Europe's largest center of excellence for artificial intelligence and modern robotics, Cyber Valley, has gained a new Corporate Network partner in Festo. In the year of its 100th anniversary, one of the leading manufacturer of automation technology is taking the next step in bringing modern AI technologies into industrial practice. Cyber Valley offers a platform for scientists and companies to deepen basic research in machine learning, intelligent systems and robotics.
Festo is contributing to the partnership with its Festo IoC lab, based at one of Cyber Valley’s founding partners, the University of Tübingen. This focuses not only on research and development of artificial intelligence, but also on developing networks for start-ups in artificial intelligence. "At the Festo IoC lab, we will expand our research and collaboration with start-ups in the field of generative AI and generative design," explains Dr. Shahram Eivazi, Head of the Festo IoC Lab and Technology Expert of the Advanced Development Artificial Intelligence team at Festo in Esslingen.
In detail, the AI expert lists the following goals of the cooperation:
- Enabling AI to better understand automation systems.
- Using AI to synthesize novel solutions at different levels of automation.
- Bringing together Cyber Valley start-ups with Festo and its AI team.
AI in Festo's sights
Since 2021, Festo has been intensifying its cooperation with the University of Tübingen as part of an industry-on-campus project led by Dr. Shahram Eivazi. The initial focus was on deep reinforcement learning for robotics: In this case, the robot tries to learn how to achieve a given goal through trial and error. Based on the feedback received, the robot gradually optimizes its actions until it successfully solves the task. Generative models and interpretability are other AI fields that are being investigated in an application-oriented manner. The potential for AI-based applications to increase overall equipment effectiveness in production is enormous. The results are therefore continuously incorporated into existing and new AI applications from Festo.
Cyber Valley Community
By creating a vibrant ecosystem, facilitating smooth collaboration and rapid knowledge-exchange between science, business, and society, Cyber Valley envisions a future where the full potential of intelligent systems is leveraged for the greater good of the world.
The Cyber Valley Community comprises of AI researchers, companies, academic institutions, start-ups, investors, networks, platforms, foundations, and other partners from science, business, and society. One of its aims is to promote the start-up culture in science so that findings from basic research can be applied quickly. Cyber Valley creates an ideal environment for the founding of start-ups and technology transfer.
The Cyber Valley Corporate Network drives innovation in the field of AI and robotics, enabling all members to leverage AI-driven insights and diverse opportunities for collaboration between research, start-ups, and industry. Festo is now strengthening this network as a valued partner.
费斯托 (Festo)是一家全球性的独立的家族企业，总部位于德国埃斯林根。自成立以来，Festo在工业自动化技术和技术教育方面制定标准，从而为环境、经济和社会的可持续发展做出贡献。公司为超过35个行业的30万家工厂和过程自动化客户提供气动和电驱动自动化技术解决方案，其中生命科学和实验室自动化业务受到越来越多的关注。Festo产品和服务遍布176个国家。2024年，费斯托在全球61个国家的250多个分支机构拥有约20600名员工，实现销售额34.5亿欧元。每年约8%的销售额用于研发。在这家学习型企业，1.5%的销售额用于基础和进一步培训。Festo 教学培训 (Didactic SE) 是全球领先的技术教育和培训供应商，为全球客户提供工业环境中全面的数字化和常规学习解决方案。
