What of tomorrow’s world of work, Mr Culha?

The factory of the future makes us think of science fiction. Drones buzz through the production hall delivering components. Humans work together with smart robots on the production line, which are controlled by engineers remotely. Such a vision of the future is currently being turned into reality at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. “We are building the KI.Fabrik (AI.Factory) there, an interactive research lab for artificial intelligence,” explains Turkish computer scientist, Utku Culha. In the KI.Fabrik everything is digitally connected. A central AI system monitors and optimises every operation.

“Together with our partners in industry, we are investigating new methods and manufacturing genuine products, such as car parts. AI ensures that production is efficient and highly flexible. If we need to manufacture other components, the entire factory with its adaptive robots can adjust at lightning speed,” Culha reports. The point is that the smart robots learn from the people they are working with. With the help of virtual reality headsets and gloves, human staff can slip into the robots’ skin remotely, feel what the machines are touching and teach them new functions. “Especially in the light of the Corona pandemic, this avatar function has acquired a whole new significance, not least for the world of work, because it opens up completely new opportunities for decentralised production,” says Utku Culha.