One job, two robots

AI-driven cobots and humanoids can be flexibly integrated to create seamless workflows on the shop floor.

A ballpoint pen or bottle opener needs to be placed in a specific box. A cobot receives the task via chat or voice command. It picks up the desired object and sets it down. A humanoid robot then takes over: it picks up the box and places it on a table.

The live demo by Fraunhofer IEM shows how different robot systems can be flexibly controlled using artificial intelligence and integrated into end-to-end workflows on the shop floor. To achieve this, the institute combines its expertise in agentic AI, intelligent automation, and modern robotics to test how these technologies can be integrated into industrial processes.

For companies, however, the question arises even before deployment: Which tasks are actually suitable for humanoid robotics, and when is it worth getting started? This is where the it’s OWL initiative Stratosfare comes in, in collaboration with Fraunhofer IEM. In the Humanoid Robotics Lab, companies can test their own use cases on various robotic systems and gain experience with the technology.

“In the current exploration phase, shared access to infrastructure is often more cost-effective than owning individual robots,” says Dr. Martin Rabe, Head of Stratosfare.

This allows companies to first familiarize themselves with the technology and explore their own potential applications without having to immediately invest in their own robotics system and the associated infrastructure.