Ü:MO 2025

The EcoFrame project focuses on the development of a framework that makes the generation and provision of sustainability information for EcoDesign and production networks efficient. The focus is on the methodological priorities of EcoDesign and sustainable production. Improved, holistic monitoring across company boundaries is intended to enable the optimization of existing products and their production with regard to sustainability requirements and to support decision-making for the development of sustainable products and their production. A key component of the project is the integration of the concept of the circular economy into the automotive supply chain in order to address the resulting opportunities and challenges.

The Connect4HCA project puts people at the heart of industrial automation by adapting technologies to the needs of workers under Human-Centered Automation 5.0 (HCA 5.0). Automated and manual processes are networked according to the situation, supported by a flexible communication infrastructure. The core is the development of decentralized technical intelligence (DTI), which controls production processes in real time along the entire product life cycle. A demonstrator shows the connectivity between processes, systems, supply chains and human and artificial intelligence. With a focus on occupational health and safety, the project is working with consortium partners to drive forward the networking and optimization of industrial production.

The Well-defined project on the ARENA2036 research campus is making value chains fit for the future through digitalization and flexibility. Traditional structures are being transformed into dynamic networks that react flexibly to changes and support goals such as CO2 reduction. Central to this is an adaptive Value Chain Execution System (VCES) with standardized data exchange formats and secure interfaces. Technologies such as Catena-X-datadata spaces enable cross-company orchestrations. Challenges lie in the implementation of standards and their integration into existing systems. From 2024, 8 partners will be researching sustainable solutions over 5 years, networked with projects on mobility, sustainability and connectivity.

CARpulse focuses on the development of a safe and sustainable vehicle architecture for autonomous vehicles that is tailored to the needs of users and takes into account their interaction with the environment. The CARpulse project aims to develop a modular capsule for autonomous vehicles. The vehicle architecture will be designed both physically and virtually to cover different use cases. By focusing on a user-centered perspective, CARpulse aims to make the concept of the future vehicle realistic and applicable. An important element is the technology demonstrator, which illustrates the interaction of the future vehicle with people and the environment. Another important area is the development of a research platform that uses XR technologies (virtual, augmented and mixed reality) for the development of mobility concepts.

KIRR REAL aims to support companies in Baden-Württemberg in implementing the EU AI Act and the EU Machinery Regulation and to provide impetus for the practical implementation and further development of AI regulation. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA is carrying out so-called Legal Quick Checks as part of the project funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism. These are analyses of the legal conformity of AI applications with regard to the European Union's AI Act and the Machinery Regulation, which will come into force in 2027. The combination of Fraunhofer IPA's proximity to research and legal expertise should lead to new insights into the legally compliant use of such systems and provide companies with significant support in the market launch of new technologies.

The AI-MATTERS project aims to strengthen Europe's leading role in the introduction of human-centered AI systems in manufacturing. The focus is on the integration and optimization of transformative AI technologies through practical tests and experiments. Particular attention is paid to making these innovations accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe in order to sustainably increase the competitiveness and innovative strength of the European manufacturing sector.

RoX creates a decentralized data and services ecosystem that enables the development, deployment and continuous improvement of advanced AI-powered robotic systems throughout their lifecycle. RoX emphasizes data sovereignty, sustainability and energy efficiency and cooperates closely with European initiatives such as Manufacturing-X and IPCEI-CIS.

The HyMatFlow research project is investigating the collaboration between Premium Robotics' picking robot and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) controlled by NODE Robotics. In cooperation with Fraunhofer IPA, the focus is on optimizing the material flow so that Premium Robotics' robot system is reliably supplied with the required materials at all times. Mobile robots play a key role here, as they enable flexible and efficient intralogistics. The project partners see driverless transport systems as an essential component of modern logistics and are developing innovative approaches for an intelligent, fully automated material flow.

As part of the "New Hall Network" project, ARENA2036 is modernizing the digital infrastructure of its research hall together with its partner Nokia. The aim is to provide a highly flexible, secure and powerful network infrastructure that meets the requirements of Industry 4.0, networked data spaces and AI-supported production. By integrating state-of-the-art technologies such as PON, 5G, WiFi, edge computing and software-defined networks, the new hall network enables real-time communication between people, machines and sensors as well as digital twins, the industrial metaverse and other cloud-based applications.

Coming soon

The project's goal is to deploy imaging radar systems to prevent accidents in highly automated factories, with a particular focus on collisions between humans, robots, and forklifts. The advantage of imaging radars compared to other technologies is their large range, allowing them to cover extensive production areas and provide safety at a low cost per square meter. Furthermore, thanks to advanced object recognition software, employees do not need to wear identification tags, which enhances both safety and comfort.

CARS 2.0 supports SMEs and start-ups from the Stuttgart and Neckar-Alb regions in the transformation of vehicle and mechanical engineering. Under the leadership of WRS, partners from business, science and education are working together to support companies with digitalization, alternative drive systems and the transformation of their business models. The focus is on information and awareness-raising, networking, market development and employee training.

In DigiTain, processes, methods and models for the fully digital product development and certification of sustainable electric drive architectures are being developed and tested using a technology carrier. From the outset, the aim is not only to develop competitive drives, but also to incorporate ecological and economic sustainability criteria. The aim is a continuous development process that integrates ecological and economic sustainability right from the start instead of only considering them in later phases, as has been the case up to now.

The DigiAutoFab project aims to further develop additive manufacturing (AM) specifically for the automotive industry - from prototyping to series production. The focus is on the use of additively manufactured components for testing in pre-series vehicles, for needs-based spare parts production ChatGPT: and for product customization. To this end, new processes, materials, testing techniques and process-safe and system-independent production methods are being researched and tested.

Transfer-X and ARENA2036-X present an innovative demonstration and test environment for data spaces. The aim is to connect data along the entire value chain, enable the secure provision and processing of data and promote new business models. This is a decisive step towards digitally networked value chains and sustainable production.

Tractus-X is the official open source project in the Catena-X ecosystem. It aims to create a platform that enables the secure exchange of data along the entire value chain in the automotive industry. The platform is based on open standards and supports companies of all sizes in working together efficiently, from production to after-sales service.

Construct-X is a cross-industry research project with the aim of accelerating the digitalization of the construction industry. The development of digital tools and standards is intended to make processes on construction sites more efficient, improve the flow of information and thus achieve greater transparency and sustainability.

The KI-D@ARENA-X project supports companies and start-ups from the Stuttgart region in the development and testing of AI applications in data space. It promotes the exchange of expertise, provides access to infrastructure and facilitates collaboration between companies in order to drive innovation.

Based on the ARENA2036 ecosystem, a real-world laboratory Industrial Metaverse is being created to drive forward the digital transformation of production. The project is developing tools and methods for the design of digital twins, VR/AR applications and data-driven production processes. The aim is to make optimization potential visible and transfer the knowledge gained into practice.

The aim of Factory-X is to lay the foundations for an open and collaborative digital ecosystem for factory equipment suppliers and operators. Factory-X is the lighthouse project within the Manufacturing-X initiative funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE). Factory-X focuses on 11 dedicated use cases, including both horizontal supply chain-oriented use cases and vertical store floor-oriented use cases. Under the leadership of Siemens and SAP, 47 partners, supplemented by 10 associated partners, are working together in this consortium. The project was launched on February 1, 2024 and will run until June 2026.

Standardization initiative Wire Harness (SILS): Automation in the development, production, and assembly of wiring harnesses requires, above all, the ability to manage complexity and the multitude of variants. Standardization is a key element in this. The standardization initiative Wire Harness is a collaboration between companies from all stages of the wiring harness value chain. The goal of the collaboration is to develop proposals for the standardization of automated wiring harness production in accordance with DIN 72036.

Transformation Hub Wire Harness (LS Hub): The Transformation Hub Wire Harness is a project funded by the BMWE (Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy) to support the transformation of the wiring harness industry. It scouts interesting trends and technologies, including those from other industries and academia. Through events and publications, it informs about innovations and provides impetus for the implementation of innovations. The Transformation Hub Wire Harness connects experts and supports large companies, SMEs, and academia through exploratory processes and feasibility studies. ARENA2036 collaborates with consortium partners Bayern Innovativ and OpenHybridLabFactory.

Using the Asset Administration Shell as a standardized, interoperable digital twin is particularly useful as it enables cross-manufacturer compatibility and seamless integration. The uniform structure means that different systems can be easily networked, which makes digitization much easier and reduces costs and development effort. At the same time, the Asset Administration Shell offers a future-proof foundation, as it is based on open standards and can be flexibly expanded. The Asset Administration Shell increases transparency, as all relevant asset information is available in a structured manner, thus supporting more efficient processes and well-founded decisions. Overall, the Asset Administration Shell makes a decisive contribution to fully exploiting the potential of Industry 4.0.

The goal of the Alquor project is the characterization and qualification of photonic processors and photonic integrated chips operating at 925 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths. The photonic processors are low-loss, reconfigurable multimode interferometers that enable users to perform arbitrary, controlled interference between a series of optical channels in the classical or quantum domain. QuiX Quantum processors are industry-leading in terms of the number of optical channels (8-32), low loss (2.9 dB), and high transform fidelity (up to 99%), making them an excellent solution for many applications, not only in quantum computing but also for quantum communication, QRNG, machine learning, and more.

Establishment of a versatile, energy-flexible and networked H2 industrial research platform for research into hydrogen in production

In the OPTI-FEEL project, the precise, non-contact distance measurement between the rotor and stator of an axial flux motor was investigated using optical measurement technology. The aim was to test compliance with tight measurement tolerances for a future generation of motors. In six months, the project partners developed an optical measurement system in which a micro-printed probe on an OCT fiber was successfully tested on a real motor.

The Design Factory Stuttgart is an open learning-by-doing platform within ARENA2036. It is aimed at industry partners, specialists, students and school pupils in order to strengthen their innovation potential through practice-oriented learning. The focus is on the design thinking approach, which is taught through workshops, courses and training sessions. Interdisciplinary teams are formed to jointly develop creative solutions for real challenges. The Design Factory Stuttgart is part of the global Design Factory Global Network (DFGN) and promotes cooperation between science and business to shape sustainable innovations.

ARENA2036 is an innovation platform where industry, science and start-ups work together on the future topics of mobility and production. We provide a concise insight into the ARENA2036 concept, the benefits of membership and the diverse participation formats.

Lasers4MaaS is driving the digital transformation of the industry through innovative service solutions in the field of laser welding. By complementing dynamic laser beam shaping with AI-supported process development, evaluation and control, our digital platform enables flexible, cost-effective and sustainable use of modern laser welding technology. Whether in the automotive, aerospace, food packaging, hydrogen or nuclear fusion industries, Lasers4MaaS enables process development and optimization at the touch of a button.

Coming soon

Cross-company development of special machines with the help of digital twins. Networked data spaces, seamless workflows and simulation-supported planning are intended to reduce errors, speed up processes and improve time-to-market. The digital twin grows continuously with data and models across the entire product life cycle.

The demonstration highlights the efforts to tackle challenges related to one of the objectives of the SUSTAINET-iNnOvAte project: creating smooth, sustainable, and high-performance networks with deterministic and highly available behavior for critical services and infrastructures. The aim is to explore system technologies and network elements that facilitate seamless, sustainable, and high-performance communication across diverse network segments, ensuring deterministic and highly reliable end-to-end communication to support critical services and infrastructures. In this demonstration, we illustrate how a Passive Optical Network (PON), originally designed for Fiber to the Home (FTTH) technology, can effectively enable reliable and time-critical end-to-end services. In this joint demonstration between NOKIA-BELL-LABS and BALLUFF, we showcase the operation of a failsafe lift utilizing ProfiNet-based communication between the lift's sensor and the PLC located at a distant centralized edge cloud. The low latency and highly reliable service required for round-trip data communication between the sensor IO-Link Master and the PLC is achieved over the PON network, demonstrating that less than 2ms end-to-end latency is possible with minimal jitter.

Eco-Reporting-X is developing a solution for the structured provision and targeted transfer of sustainability-relevant operating and consumption data. Data is exchanged interoperably via EDC connectors in the ARENA2036-X infrastructure and visualized in a dashboard - for well-founded decisions and effective optimization.

Accelerating the product development process of overmolded structures with Robotic Screw Extrusion Additive Manufacturing. Automotive components based on master molding processes require a cost-, time- and resource-intensive product development process (PDP), as a new geometry-specific tool is required for each iteration. The use of Robotic Screw Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (SEAM) offers the possibility of replacing these master mold structures in the prototype phase with additive structures, which increases the flexibility of the entire PDP. Robotic SEAM enables the processing of a large number of available standard thermoplastic granulates, which significantly expands the material selection and reduces raw material costs. This enables the direct use of the target material of the master molding process, e.g. injection molding, which is later used in series production. In addition, significantly higher plasticization rates can be achieved compared to other extrusion processes, such as fused filament fabrication. The combination with a 6-axis industrial robot as a positioning system and a turn-tilt table as a building platform enables the rapid assembly of even large components or additive manufacturing on existing structures. In this project, the Robotic SEAM process is demonstrated using the example of a load compartment recess to be printed. In the series production process, the load compartment recess, which comes from a current Mercedes-Benz series vehicle, is made from a formed organic sheet and overmoulded with a 40% glass fiber-filled polypropylene. The overmolded structure consists of reinforcing ribs and functional interfaces such as screw fastening points and pins. In order to avoid the expensive injection molding tool in the prototype phase, these geometries are initially printed additively directly onto the formed organo sheet using the target material. The focus is on the geometric and functional validation of the components in the early phase with the aim of ultimately only having to produce the final injection mold for series production. This reduces development times and resource consumption and leads to a flexible and sustainable development process. This feasibility study covers a broad range of research along the entire process chain of additive manufacturing processes, which is carried out at the DLR Institute of Vehicle Concepts. This includes material qualification, both for individual materials and material combinations, intelligent and adaptive path and process planning, process validation and optimization using a digital twin and process data acquisition as the basis for integrated quality assurance.

Together, NXTGN and STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play are creating an end-to-end innovation ecosystem for start-ups. NXTGN is the innovation platform from Baden-Württemberg. It connects start-ups, science and business. As Plug and Play's global open innovation platform with access to over 60 locations worldwide, STARTUP AUTOBAHN combines leading companies in the automotive industry with cutting-edge startups from all over the world. Two approaches with a common goal: to accompany companies and start-ups from the initial idea to successful implementation and thus actively shape the future.

Concept for flexible and adaptable material transport in production Blurb: The project is working on the development of flexible and adaptable material transport concepts for production in which several products are manufactured in different quantities on an assembly line.

Thermoelectric generators (TEG) convert heat directly into electrical energy. They can be used to recover waste heat from a wide variety of processes and thus increase energy efficiency. In order to be able to serve the wide range of possible applications, a modular development and manufacturing process is being tested in the project, in which various TEGs can be produced using a laser system. The aim of the project is to reduce production costs and to demonstrate the systems in real operation together with industrial partners.

Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer (DWPT) enables wireless power delivery to moving vehicles or devices, eliminating the need for charging stops.

The aim of the project is to develop a special thermoelectric generator (TEG) that generates electrical energy from waste heat. The focus is on a cryogenic TEG, which is used with cryogenic hydrogen (LH2). A cryogenic TEG not only primarily supplies electrical energy, but also provides the heat required for the vaporization of liquid hydrogen. This ensures a continuous supply of gaseous hydrogen to a fuel cell or hydrogen engine. In addition, the cryo-TEG relieves the coolant circuit of the fuel cell, for example. The electrical energy fed in increases the efficiency of the hydrogen application and ultimately reduces hydrogen consumption and operating costs.

The hybrid brake is a modified high-performance eddy current brake with an additional friction function, which combines the respective advantages. The eddy current brake takes over most of the braking effect by converting 90% of the braking energy without wear or emissions, while the highly integrated friction brake only takes over the remaining part at low speeds. All in all, the brake lining is subject to low stress and thus lasts the entire life cycle of a vehicle. Compared to conventional eddy current brakes, the hybrid brake presented here has up to three times the power density. The overall aim of the project is to develop a hybrid brake as a sustainable braking system in accordance with TRL 5 for commercial vehicle applications, which will be tested under real operating conditions in real road traffic scenarios.

The aim of the QuantInspect project is the high-resolution, non-destructive inspection of photonic quantum chips. Using a chromatic confocal line sensor, the topography of the surface is recorded with a resolution in the µm range in order to identify manufacturing defects such as missing contacts, defects in the gold layer etc. at an early stage. The optical measurement technology enables fast and contactless characterization of critical structures and thus makes an important contribution to the defect-free and scalable production of photonic quantum processors.

We enable predictive maintenance through AI-supported analysis of sensor data. A smart IoT infrastructure, simulated fault scenarios and radar-based anomaly detection ensure optimum operation. Whether with Schaeffler OPTIME, evon XAMControl or the radar from Waveye - downtimes are reduced and system availability is increased.

The project includes the automatic tracking of load carriers (LT) - from goods receipt to the point of use. Real-time location and automatic identification replace manual scanning processes, reduce booking errors and correctly record stocks - all seamlessly integrated into SAP.

Buildings and systems are visually recorded and documented in a structured manner on FARO's HoloBuilder/SphereXG. Linking this with relevant information creates digital twins - as the basis for transparent, efficient and predictive processes.

In this joint project, hydrop systems operates several meter attachments (so-called hydropmeters) at Würth Elektronik's headquarters in Waldenburg to digitize the site's existing water meters. Würth Elektronik's building services department can access the site's water consumption data via a mobile app. This real-time monitoring of water consumption makes it possible for the first time to respond promptly to deviations in consumption. This is intended to detect unnecessary water losses, such as running toilets, as quickly as possible and use the valuable resource water even more efficiently. Würth Elektronik is also supporting the startup hydrop systems as a scaling partner for product development of the hydropmeter and by supplying electronic components.

Agile Robots won this year's Robotics Challenge 2.0 of the Transformation Hub Wire Harness at the ARENA2036 research campus with the fastest and most economical solution: the automated production of a set of partial cables was completed in just 2:25 minutes. Precise robots from Agile Robots, AI-supported image processing and the AgileCore software platform were used.

Coming soon

Photonic quantum computers are fundamentally based on the encoding and processing of quantum information using light. In the measurement-based quantum processor, squeezed light states are first generated, then processed using information technology, and finally detected. The individual light pulses are guided on the chip in a similar way to conductor paths for electrons in waveguides. The advantage of photonic qubits is their high coherence length and transmission even at room temperature, so that the quantum states are preserved even over long transmission paths. The basis for the photonic quantum processor is integrated photonic circuits based on silicon nitride. The silicon nitride platform is a mature technology that offers low losses – such losses are the main source of error in photonic qubits. Furthermore, it is scalable using processes from the telecommunications industry and can be combined with other photonic technologies. To realize a scalable, universal photonic quantum processor, a high degree of integration of components such as light sources and detectors is required. QuiX Quantum is developing and building several increasingly complex prototypes of universal photonic quantum computers for DLR by 2026. The first of these computers is already in daily use at the DLR Institute of Optical Sensor Systems. These computers can be connected to other devices, such as fiber optic networks.