Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB 
Short description
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize established production processes and upgrade immature processes - and thus gain tangible competitive advantages: This is the mission of the Karlsruher Forschungsfabrik (Karlsruhe Research Factory), which Fraunhofer IOSB operates together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT and the wbk Institute of Production Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Companies can research and develop intelligent production in areas such as electromobility, lightweight construction and Industrie 4.0 in close cooperation with the research institutes.
Goals of the Karlsruhe Research Factory
Using Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, science and industry are jointly transferring innovative, challenging manufacturing processes from the idea to operational practice in the shortest possible time. This enables companies with their own production facilities as well as machine and plant manufacturers to supply the market with new products earlier.
This is made possible by “over-instrumenting” the processes with sensors and actuators, whereby data is obtained quickly and comprehensively and evaluated using machine learning methods. This in turn enables optimized control of even incompletely understood processes. Fraunhofer IOSB is focusing in particular on the development and testing of a systematic approach to the use of AI in production, AI Systems Engineering.
Current status
Fraunhofer IOSB will incorporate the results from the lighthouse project ML4P - Machine Learning for Production and from the Karlsruhe Competence Center for AI Systems Engineering (CC-KING), among others, into the research factory. This also applies to the results of the work in the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Internet Technologies, in which IOSB is represented in the Machine Learning Research Center. Fraunhofer IOSB focuses on comprehensible, robust learning methods combined with production-specific expert knowledge. With its flexible infrastructure, the research factory will here become an important test and demonstration environment.
