BTS students at Advanced Factories Expo & Congress

This year, BTS students had the opportunity to participate in the Advanced Factories Expo & Congress in Barcelona, an exhibition that represents the who is who for automation and digitization in the manufacturing industry.

Several providers of advanced robotic technologies demonstrated bin-picking solutions and robotic work-path optimizations.  Besides, mobile devices such as gloves, glasses and other sensors provided insights into the workplace of the future: for example, smart glasses used to optimize planning results for factories and tools and gloves with an implemented scanner that scanned parts and tools during the working process to replace the scanner itself and to make the work path of the workers in the assembly line or in logistic processes easier.

The connected factory and the intelligent connection of tools, machines and products to make the processes and systems more transparent were exhibited and discussed in many stands. This transparency leads to optimization potentials and new ways of restructuring the manufacturing processes or to completely invent new ways of production and planning.

Topics like 3D printing with different materials and process optimization based on machine learning and artificial intelligence were not only exhibited in the stands of the venue. These topics were also topics discussed by industry leaders and experts in several keynotes and panel discussions.

Besides the opportunities and the impact of new technologies, topics such as ethics and responsibility were discussed across all industry sectors.

Students found it quite interesting to get in touch with the speakers after the keynotes to discuss the nearer future of manufacturing and supporting technologies.

Written by Sarina Jacob, Master in Digital Transformation Leadership student at Barcelona Technology School