Day 2 of the HMI showed a strong focus on this year’s trends with Ultimaker’s enhanced 3D printing portfolio, BISTel and Oracle previewing a powerful A.I. based Predictive Maintenance (PdM) solution for Smart Connected Factory and ZF presenting its intelligent forklift. Plus, SAP showcases its latest digital twin technology and Microsoft demonstrates the abilities of HoloLens with its partners.

Aside from purely functional showcases, HMI visitors can experience what technology is capable of in direct interaction with humans. A prime example is Forpheus, a robot that shows humans how to really play table tennis. It even went head-to-head with German world-class table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

Software Giants Leverage Skill with Focus on Process Automation and Increased Efficiency

Digital twins are vital to accelerating product design and development in the manufacturing industry. With the introduction of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud for intelligent product design, SAP introduces a new solution for collaborative research and development. The solution is built on SAP Cloud Platform using the company’s latest digital twin technology and is one of the building blocks for a network of digital twins to enable new business models. SAP’s network of digital twins synchronizes the virtual, physical, conditional and commercial definitions of assets and products in real time to boost innovation, optimize operating performance, predict service requirements, improve diagnostics and enhance decision-making. Simply put, it enables new levels of collaboration.

In cooperation with different partners, Microsoft shows how mixed reality in manufacturing comes to life. Led by Microsoft HoloLens, the global leaders in manufacturing are adopting mixed reality to increase productivity, quality, and safety. BAE Systems, a manufacturer of the electric propulsion systems for HybriDrive® buses and Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner PTC, for instance, implemented HoloLens as a guided step-by-step training solution to teach workers how to assemble a green energy bus battery. Using these tools, BAE can now create guides for line workers in just a few hours and at a tenth of the cost, training new people up to 40% more efficiently.

Robot vs. Human

Did you ever wonder how good you are at table tennis? Can machines really beat humans in sports? Those are some of the questions HMI visitors may want to answer. After seeing the experimental Yamaha Motobot (in its second version at that time) trying to beat Valentino Rossi on a lap around the two-mile-long West course at Thunderhill Raceway in Northern California in 2017, world-class table tennis player Dimitrij Ovtcharov faced Forpheus in Hannover. Forpheus is OMRON’s latest technology that embodies the concept of a future where people and machines are perfectly integrated. This year’s 4th generation showcases the ability to predict a smash and a serve and is now capable of producing various sounds appropriate to the state of the match. This added sensory experience makes it much more enjoyable and immersive for the user.