Lernfabrik

This is just one example of the production processes that take place here. The charm is in the details – which is precisely what Reichelt wants to show us. He takes us over to the press and picks up one of the cases. He turns it in his hands, inspecting it closely. “The chip makes the case unique and unmistakable,” Reichelt says. “When the robot reads the chip, it immediately registers what product it’s dealing with. It communicates, so to speak, with the case.” Next, Reichelt points up in the air and explains that the camera photographing the case is sending visual information to the cloud. A program checks the image, searches for cracks, and reports back on any flaws. Reichelt leads us further along the production line to the shaper. He kneels down and points out a small digital display close to the floor. It shows how much air pressure the shaper needs to do its job and how much energy it’s using.

“We aim to calm people’s fears and counter their reservations,” says Reichelt. “We’re showing the basic technology behind the Internet of Things, and can give anyone who’s interested insight into how it works.” At the very least, production managers can gather ideas for their own work, and ideally, they leave with inspiration for a brand-new product. Anyone interested can book a tour of the Lernfabrik and embark on a veritable voyage of discovery. When the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy named the twelve hubs in its Digital Hub Initiative this spring, Dresden and Leipzig were among them (see p. 4). There are so many institutions in Dresden active within the Internet of Things that the city was named the “Smart Systems Hub.” The people behind the initiative immediately got to work developing trails visitors can follow to explore all the digital knowledge amassed in Dresden. One of the places involved is, of course, Dirk Reichelt’s pride and joy here on the ninth floor – a place where visitors learn how the Internet of Things can improve their own production processes. Another is the office of Uwe Aßmann, Chair of Software Technology at TU Dresden’s Faculty of Computer Science: the next stop on our tour.

Piechnick pulls on a sweatsuit jacket with circuit boards sewn into it and a pair of gloves equipped with wires and chips. Then he moves his right arm – and the robotic arm imitates him with precision. “The software traces the exact movements my arm makes and passes them on to the robot,” Piechnick says. This might just look like good fun, but it’s actually at the heart of a small revolution called “demonstration-based teaching.” When the two young computer scientists and their team presented WEIR (Wearables for Interacting with Robotic Co-Workers) at the HANNOVER MESSE trade fair, visitors were amazed. “Usually, programming an industrial robot takes many weeks and costs tens of thousands of euros,” says Piechnick.

But like the Lernfabrik, what makes this invention such a sensation is that WEIR is not the isolated brainchild of a single genius – it’s a collaborative project with practical applications. Dirk Reichelt, for example, works closely with a Fraunhofer Institute. At his Lernfabrik, big local firms like Infineon and VW are working on concrete cases, while Dresden-based company ZIGPOS delivers sensor networks and positioning systems, Leipzig firm ccc software installs the industrial software for measuring energy use, and database specialists from Robotron in Dresden take care of the cloud solutions.