At the invitation of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the Chair of Information Management presented its chess-playing cobot at an open day in Berlin.

The chess cobot impressively demonstrated how efficient cooperation between man and machine can work:

• A multi-camera system continuously records the environment.
• The visual data is analysed by an AI that recognises objects and assigns them a meaning.
• After each move, the robot analyses the changes on the chessboard and reacts to the actions of its teammate - just like in real-life scenarios in production, care or many other applications.
• An optimal strategy is then calculated and the system precisely controls the robot arm to make the next move.

A real highlight: the young guests in particular were thrilled by the additional function that allows the robot to set up pieces that have fallen over or completely tidy up the chessboard after a game. Children's eyes lit up and many of them wanted a "tidy-up robot for their children's room".

"We had exciting conversations with numerous visitors - about applied research, cognitive systems and our visions for the factory of the future. Many thanks to the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space for the invitation and to everyone who visited us this weekend, joined in and discussed the future of AI and robotics with us! Once again, we have seen the central role played by research at universities of applied sciences, which the BMFTR specifically supports with its funding in order to advance innovations from research directly in practice," summarises project manager Professor Dirk Reichelt.