New requirements have emerged in the process of industrial transformation, such as shortening the product life cycle, but increasing the number of derivatives. At the same time, it is becoming more and more important to ensure that employees can adapt to new jobs quickly and intuitively. This requires new forms of collaboration among people, machinery and software. The self-learning system with artificial intelligence and robot-based automation solutions play an important role. Robot-based solutions work hand-in-hand with human operators to form networks with each other. Bionic workstations meet all these requirements - Festo exhibited a breakthrough working environment at the Hanover Industrial Expo 2018.

Bionic workstation: Man works with bionic manipulator and equipped with many auxiliary systems and peripheral equipment which are connected and communicated with each other.


Bionic workstation: Man works with bionic manipulator and equipped with many auxiliary systems and peripheral equipment which are connected and communicated with each other.


In the future, production will be flexible - whether from the point of view of the products manufactured, or from the point of view of the design of workstation and working environment. Artificial intelligence and machine learning transform work station into learning system, grow continuously, optimize and adapt to actual work requirements. Festo demonstrated this feature impressively through bionic workstations. In the bionic workstation, human and bionic manipulator work together, and equipped with a number of interconnected, communication auxiliary systems and peripheral equipment. Through technology, operators can reduce fatigue or get rid of dangerous work, so as to support the work of operators.



A Learning System Based on Sensors and Artificial Intelligence


The design of the whole station conforms to ergonomics and can be adjusted according to different people, even including lighting. Sensors and camera systems record the positions of operators, components and tools so that people can intuitively control Bionic Cobot by gestures, touches or voice. At the same time, a software system processes all camera images and input signals from various peripheral devices. Using this information, the software system can derive the optimal sequence of programs. The system learns from each new action to continuously optimize itself. As a result, the sequence of controlled, programmed and set-up gives way to a freer way of working.


Man controls BionicCobo intuitively by gesture, touch or voice




Sensors and camera systems record the locations of operators, components and tools



Sharing Knowledge, Global Sharing


After learning and optimizing, the process and skills of bionic workstations can be transmitted to other systems of the same type in real time and shared globally. For example, in the future, workstations can be integrated into global networks to share knowledge modules and communicate in different national languages. In this way, production not only becomes more flexible, but also more decentralized: operators can transfer production orders from the Internet platform, and cooperate with machines to produce these orders independently - to meet customers'personalized desires and requirements. It is not far from us to realize remote operation.



BionicCobot (Bionic Lightweight Cooperative Robot) as the Core Element


The key component of the working environment is the pneumatic light "BionicCobot". The robot is modeled on a human arm. Compressed air drives all kinds of actions, so it has good flexibility; therefore, it can interact with people directly and safely. Digital pneumatic technology makes all this possible: the combination of Festo Motion Terminal (digital control terminal) and Bionic Cobot creates a new solution space for human-computer collaboration, which enables Bionic Cobot to move fast, vigorously, flexibly and delicately.



Personalized production scenario


At the Hanover Industrial Expo, the bionic workstation shows the scene of individual product manufacturing. For example, to create a personalized model of a human head, a laser cutter first slices acrylic glass: a software program converts a person's facial features scanned by a smartphone into a CAD model, and then divides them into pieces. Based on this three-dimensional template, the laser cutter cuts parts from acrylic glass. BionicCobot takes the slices directly from the cutting machine and gives them to the operator in the correct order, which assembles the slices into a unique model.


The automatic continuous feeding of materials is guaranteed by Robotino #2, which drives autonomously back and forth between the two stations. The feeding is completed by the improved BionicMotion Robot=

The automatic continuous feeding of materials is guaranteed by Robotino #2, which drives autonomously back and forth between the two stations. Feeding is done by the improved BionicMotion Robot


In this scenario, the automatic continuous feeding of materials is ensured by Robotino, which travels autonomously back and forth between the two stations and finds the route safely through a laser scanner. The feeding is accomplished by an improved Bionic Motion Robot, which uses a flexible robot structure consisting of air chambers and three-dimensional weaving of fabric coatings. This configuration combines all the key elements of robotics.