In view of the shortage of skilled workers, this will help to significantly reduce the workload of development teams and plant operations. Rainer Brehm, CEO Factory Automation at Siemens, explains the function and possible applications of Siemens Industrial Copilot.

Siemens has developed the Industrial Copilot together with Microsoft. What functions does the chatbot offer and what are the benefits for companies?

Siemens Industrial Copilot is a generative AI-supported assistant with which Siemens aims to make work easier for people in engineering and manufacturing. The Industrial Copilot enables automation engineers and factory employees to optimize and accelerate processes and increase productivity - from the design of a product or machine to planning, engineering, operation and service. For example, because Copilot generates complex programming code through natural language input, engineering teams are able to generate code for programmable logic controllers (PLCs) faster and significantly reduce simulation times. A process that could take several weeks is reduced to just a few minutes. The Industrial Copilot also supports employees in production by helping to identify errors, providing detailed repair instructions and thus enabling solutions to be developed more quickly. Particularly in view of the shortage of skilled workers, this will help to significantly reduce the workload of development teams and plant operations.

What is the implementation process for Siemens Industrial Copilot like? Are there typical challenges that need to be considered?

AI systems help to develop new technologies faster. For example, we use generative AI to build further generative AI products and use Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service for this. One major challenge is to make the AI systems suitable for industrial use. The systems must be robust, secure and trustworthy if they are to be used for industrial product development and production processes. We have to take precautions for this and adapt it to our domain. After all, an assistant based on generative AI cannot do automation without further ado. The testing of industrial AI in particular is associated with new requirements that conventional software products do not have. Furthermore, the field is developing at an enormous pace, so we need to integrate new technologies and approaches quickly.

Automotive supplier Schaeffler is one of the first users, what feedback have you received here?

Last year, we presented a production machine enhanced with the Industrial Copilot for the first time at the SPS trade fair with Schaeffler as a co-creation partner. Like Siemens, the motion technology company sees generative AI solutions as an important driver of digital transformation in industry. By using generative AI in the engineering phase at Schaeffler, engineers are able to generate code faster and more efficiently, for example for programming robotic systems. Schaeffler also plans to use our AI-based assistant in operations to reduce machine downtime or support maintenance teams in troubleshooting.

Are there any plans for the further development of Siemens Industrial Copilot or the integration of new technologies or functions?

At this year's Hannover Messe, we are going one step further in our evolution of AI in the industrial environment: Siemens is the first industrial company to present a product for generative AI in the industrial engineering environment. The Industrial Copilot is connected to the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal engineering framework from Siemens via the open API interface TIA Portal Openness and will soon be available to customers via the digital business platform Siemens Xcelerator. New features include the automated generation of SCL code. The TIA Portal can accept the code proposal directly from the AI system without users having to copy and paste the code beforehand.

When can we expect to see GenAI-based assistants in the entire production environment?

The potential of GenAI is huge. We probably haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg of the possibilities that generative AI opens up in factory automation. At Siemens, we have been testing with our partners and customers for some time how and where we can apply generative AI everywhere. We see many application scenarios for generative AI along the entire value chain. Our aim is for the Industrial Copilot to provide support right from the start, for example in the design and planning phase and, of course, in engineering, operations and service. There are many opportunities, especially in operations: For example, for customers who produce themselves to increase the efficiency of operating, maintenance and service personnel and to pass on critical expert knowledge. But also for machine manufacturers who want to offer faster remote support or give their customers access to the co-pilot for their machines.

What other innovations will Siemens be presenting at the trade fair?

AI, sustainability and competitiveness are the focus of the Siemens trade fair motto "Accelerate Transformation". In showcases from the automotive, food, semiconductor and chemical industries, Siemens will be presenting technologies that make automation and programming easy.

With Simatic S7-1200 G2, our customers can automate with ease. The controllers enable the combination of efficient motion control functions with flexible and space-saving machine safety solutions. In addition, they offer entry into seamlessly scalable customer applications while meeting the latest performance requirements for cost-efficient automation applications.

Siemens continues to rely on collaboration with partners such as Amazon Web Services Inc (AWS) for the Industrial Edge ecosystem: AWS IoT SiteWise Edge is now available on the Siemens Industrial Edge Marketplace. From there, customers can use the app on Siemens Industrial Edge via centralized app and device management, combine it with other apps and edge devices and thus configure an IoT solution for their specific challenges.

In the area of cyber security, Siemens will be showcasing the cloud-based Sinec Security Guard. The software-as-a-service offers automated vulnerability mapping and security management that is optimized for industrial operators in OT environments. Sinec Security Guard can automatically assign known cyber security vulnerabilities to the production components of industrial companies.

With Siemens Xcelerator for Digital Drivetrain, Siemens is presenting a range of IoT-capable hardware and software for the entire drivetrain. This includes the areas of Drivetrain Design and Drivetrain Health. Drivetrain Design offers tools for the design, simulation and optimization of drivetrains in the design phase. For this purpose, Siemens is launching DriveSim Engineer, which makes it possible to create a digital twin of the drivetrain in a virtual environment with all the parameters and configurations.