Interdisciplinary and international - this is the format of the Summit expert panel, which takes place at the heart of automatica, the leading trade fair for the automation industry. Technology drivers and pioneers from science and industry will present their innovations, findings and megatrends on the future of robotics and artificial intelligence. The summit event not only inspires, but also opens up a space for dialog and enables exchange among and with experts at the highest level.

The high-tech platform munich_i consists of three components: the Hightech Summit, the special show AI.Society and the Robothon, a collaborative developer challenge. The lead directors are Prof. Dr. med. Alena Buyx and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sami Haddadin, while Bavaria's Minister President Dr. Markus Söder acts as patron. After just two events, this format has developed into one of the leading events for the future of robotics and AI.

An overview of the sessions shows that the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI) at TUM, as the organizer, has done everything in its power to demonstrate the full range of these key technologies and their impact on different areas of life. Social and ethical issues in the use of AI are also taken into account. The High-Tech Summit takes a stand - with a broad overview and looking far ahead.

Session 1: Humans, AI and Robots!

After the welcoming keynote speech by Dr Norbert Gaus, Executive Vice President at Siemens and responsible for research and development in the fields of digitalization and automation, the High-Tech Summit will kick off with the session "Humans, AI and Robots!"
Robots with AI will solve some of humanity's most pressing problems, according to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Toshio Fukuda from Nagoya University, Japan. As program director of one of the Japanese government's Moonshot R&D programs on intelligent robots, he backs this up with examples from his research work.

The Swiss Prof. Aude Billard, President-Elect of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), who has received awards for her work in the field of human-robot interaction, will present methods of machine learning for fast and reactive robot control - an essential prerequisite for the use of robots outside the industrial world.

Session 2: Next Level Industrial Robots

The second session focuses on robotics for industrial use. Here, future generations of robots will be programmed with new, intuitive tools. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Torsten Kroeger, CTO of Intrinsic, USA, will explain what these tools will be. The company, which is part of the Alphabet Group, focuses on the development of robot software and artificial intelligence applications. Prof. Kroeger was previously head of the Robotics Software Division at Google.

Dr. Jeremy Wyatt, Director at Amazon Robotics, Germany, will then present innovative use cases for intelligent robots in goods handling at the world's largest online retailer. One of Amazon Robotics' core competencies is the development of collaborative and autonomous robots that use AI and machine learning and are used throughout the company.

Session 3: Quality of Life

When robots and other assistance systems are used in healthcare and elderly care, critical technical problems need to be solved and questions of ethics and acceptance also need to be addressed. Session 3 of the High-Tech Summit will address these issues - at the highest level.

As an expert in robots used in medical rehabilitation, Prof. Sunil Agrawal, Columbia University, USA, gives an overview of his field of research and thus of a special type of collaborative robotics. At his institute, Prof. Agrawal has developed exoskeletons that help stroke patients learn to walk again. He has received numerous international awards.

Prof. Dr. Robert Riener, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, is conducting research in a similar field. He will report on the interaction between man and machine in rehabilitation, specifically on the use of exoskeletons and virtual reality. Prof. Alex Mihailidis, AGE-WELL/University of Toronto, Canada, will speak about the increasing use of AI and robots in geriatric care and give an outlook on the future.

Session 4: Strategy and Business

If no business model can be found for new technologies, they will not become established. This is why the fourth and final session of the High-Tech Summit is dedicated to economic and strategic issues. Dr. Michael Pfeiffer, Head of AI Research at the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI), Germany, will outline the path from AI research to market-ready products.

These increasingly complex and software-driven products and systems require new methods of development and design. Dr. Sameer Prabhu, Head of Market Development at MathWorks, USA, describes such a process with "Model Based Systems Engineering". The new methodology can be used for the development of medical robots, for example, but also for the planning of complete "smart" factories.

Views from the summit

The High-Tech Summit brings together international experts in robotics and AI who are thinking far ahead. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sami Haddadin: "It is inspiring that we were able to attract the international elite from research and top companies for the presentations. All four sessions reflect our 'dream program'. One thing is clear: the summit offers exciting insights and a reliable guide to the relevance of new technologies for the future."

Prof. Alena Buyx is delighted with the positive response from the requested speakers: "AI technologies must be ethical and socially responsible and benefit individuals and communities. munich_i offers a relevant discussion platform for this and brings together many stakeholders from politics, science, industry and society."