Artificial Intelligence in Assembly and Disassembly

Abstract: 

The rapid progress of Artificial Intelligence in robotics and computer vision shows a high potential for the automation of processes in assembly and disassembly. Nevertheless industrial applications of assembly, disassembly and reassembly still largely rely on human workforce. The keynote presentation gives an overview about new AI based opportunities but also limits for the automation of complex (dis-)assembly processes. It also discusses the role of AI for efficient system integration in automated assembly, which can provide solutions for the increasing demand for flexible and adaptable assembly.

Biography:

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Krüger studied electrical engineering at the University GH Paderborn and the Technical University Berlin, where he received his diploma in 1991. In 1998, he received his doctorate on the topic of “Methods for improving fault detection on drive trains”. In 1999, he founded the company reCognitec Gesellschaft für digitale Bildverarbeitung mbH, which focuses on image-based automation in logistics. In 2003, Prof. Krüger was appointed as a university professor at the Chair of Industrial Automation Technology at the Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management (IWF) at the TU Berlin. In 2004, he was additionally appointed Director of the Automation Technology Division at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology. In addition to these tasks, Prof. Krüger was acting head of various departments (Industrial Information Technology, Quality Science, Assembly Technology and Factory Operation) at the TU Berlin as well as of the Medical Technology department of Fraunhofer IPK between 2005 and 2018. In addition, he has been involved in the establishment of the Turkish-German University (TDU) in Istanbul since 2008 as coordinator of the engineering faculty and director of studies. In 2005, Prof. Krüger was elected as a member of the Scientific Society for Production Engineering (WGP). Since August 2008, he has been a member of the International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP), where he has headed the Scientific Technical Committee “Lifecycle Engineering and Assembly” since 2019. Prof. Krüger has also been a founding member of the Scientific Society for Assembly, Handling and Industrial Robotics (MHI) since 2012.

His research focuses on human-centered and image-based automation, in which he and his teams develop control and robotic systems for human-robot collaboration and medical rehabilitation on the one hand, and methods and applications of machine vision for object and position recognition in production on the other.