Automation & IIoT: Megatrends in Robotics and AI

munich_i Hightech Summit Megatrends in Robotics and AI

2025-05-26 Source: Press release 4 min Reading Time

Related Vendors

tmts2026-ticec-banner-en-2000px (https://www.tmts.tw/en)

Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA)

How can robots take AI-based decisions and how do they communicate with each other as they do so? What is the role of 6G in this? What’s in the pipeline of globally leading companies such as Google DeepMind, Meta, Microsoft, or Nvidia in terms of generative AI in robotics and big data? And how will this combination of robotics and AI impact medical technology?

These questions will be answered at the munich_i Hightech Summit, a top-level AI and robotics event, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 in Hall B4. Under the theme of ‘Intelligence empowering tomorrow’, 15 world-renowned research and industry experts will shed light on visionary developments and emerging technology

Session 1: Autonomy and Interaction in Robotics

The first session at the Hightech Summit will, among other things, take a closer look at human-robot interaction. Prof. Seth Hutchinson, Northeastern University (USA), provides an overview of safety requirements for robotic systems working closely with humans—such as in nursing and geriatric care—and presents results on how to safely control such manipulators.

Prof. Antonio Bicchi, IIT & University of Pisa (Italy), focuses on transforming human-robot interaction to human-robot integration: In this context, a robot can be thought of as a type of physical ‘prosthetic device’ fitted with extensive sensor technology. It is smart enough to ‘guess’ what humans want and acts accordingly.

The Honda Research Institute Europe presents ‘decisive’ robots that, apart from being capable of completely independent orientation, can also take action autonomously and even justify their decisions thanks to agent-based AI.

Session 2: Connectivity in Cooperative Robotics

How do robots communicate as they cooperate and take AI-based decisions together? The experts of the second session will answer this question. Dr. Corina Apachiţe heads the Artificial Intelligence department at Continental Automotive Technologies (Germany) and will outline the expected contributions of AI to achieving the grand goal of ‘Vision Zero’—road traffic without casualties.

Prof. Frank Fitzek, TU Dresden (Germany), sheds light on the opportunities of a 6G-based network architecture that future robots will use to communicate. Such robots will have situational awareness and take smart autonomous actions.

Session 3: Generative AI in Robotics and Big Data

Session 3 is a deep dive into the opportunities of generative AI in advancing robotics as well as analysis and utilization of Big Data. First up is Dr. Francesco Nori, Head of Google DeepMind Robotics (UK). He will present Google’s activities relating to the implementation of general AI in robots, which will enable robots to take on extremely complex handling and transport tasks.

The combination of robotics with machine learning is the main field of research for Dr. Franziska Meier, scientist at Facebook Artificial Intelligent Research (FAIR@Meta, USA). Her team develops methods providing robots with true autonomy and general skills to cover a wide spectrum of applications. Dr. Katja Hofmann heads the ‘Game Intelligence Team’ at Microsoft Research (UK) in her capacity as Senior Principal Research Manager. She presents the latest findings in the development of machine learning architectures capable of effectively modelling complex 3D structures and human gameplay data.

About cutting-edge advancements in robotics through simulation speaks Dr. Yashraj Narang, Robotics Research Manager at NVIDIA Research. Leading the Simulation and Behavior Generation team within the Seattle Robotics Lab, he focuses on learned simulators, automated data generation, reinforcement learning, and sim-to-real transfer.

Session 4: Future Medical Robotics

This session provides information on how new generations of smart robots will impact the work environment in healthcare and optimize therapy options. The research conducted by Prof. Pietro Valdastri, University of Leeds (UK), includes the development of minimally invasive surgical methods using miniaturized robots and surgical tools controlled via magnetic fields. He will share his knowledge in his lecture on ‘Livesaving soft magnetic surgical robots’.

Dr. Chiheb Dahmani, Head of Technology & Innovation for mechatronic products at Siemens Healthineers (Germany), provides an overview of current and future fields of application for robots and robotic exoskeletons in healthcare. He will also address the limits of this technology in direct contact with patients.

The Organizers: A Wealth of Robotics Intelligence

The Hightech-Summit is curated and organized by the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (MIRMI). The institute combines under one roof the expertise of 80 chairs for various disciplines at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and maintains cooperations with other universities and institutions.

Prof. Lorenzo Masia, Executive Director at MIRMI and Professor for Intelligent Bio-Robotic Systems at TU Munich, comments: “We have compiled a program that sheds light on central areas of AI and robotics research and provides insights into developments across promising markets such as healthcare.”

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.

Prof. Dr. Angela Schoellig, Member of the MIRMI Board of Directors and coordinator of the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), highlights the major software players’ striking interest in the Hightech-Summit: “We are especially pleased that, in addition to leading scientific contributions, global industry leaders will share their approaches to generative AI and engage in networking with the robotics community at munich_i.”