International conference on innovation promoted by COTEC with the collaboration of INESC TEC

On 8 July, INESC TEC participated in the 16th COTEC Innovation Summit, with the theme “Leading 4.0 – Highway to manufacture value with people and intelligent machines”.

This international conference, which was held in Vila Nova de Famalicão, brought together managers and entrepreneurs, researchers, political decision-makers, students and other specialists in innovation and industry 4.0, with the goal of debating the main technological innovation trends in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

With more than 500 participants, leaders of the sector, the event not only promoted lectures and keynote speeches, but also an exhibition space, known as Tech Demonstration Floor, in which some of the most innovative prototypes in this sector were presented.

José Carlos Caldeira, member of INESC TEC’s Board, was one of the speakers of the second parallel session with the theme “Is i4.0 a Make or Break Challenge for Portugal?”.

In the exhibition space, INESC TEC was represented by the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS) with four technological demonstrators: Human-Machine Cooperation for Assembly Operations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b51MOa9KWZ8),a collaborative human-machine system for teaching and coordinating assembly tasks using augmented reality; Internal Logistics Based on Conveyor Belts and Autonomous Intelligent Vehicles (AIVs), a system for the transportation and reorientation of boxes, based on an omnidirectional belt and on a 3D sensor related to the detection of the box, in which the collection of boxes is made with the help of an autonomous intelligent vehicle capable of avoiding obstacles; Collaborative and Adaptable Mobile Manipulator, an autonomous mobile robotic system with a collaborative manipulator adaptable to different internal logistic and assembly tasks; and Freight Transport for Outdoor, an autonomous mobile robotic system capable of transporting samples and monitoring environmental variables in oil platforms.

COTEC Innovation Summit had the presence of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic and Honorary President of COTEC, and also of Nelson de Souza and Pedro Siza Vieira, Ministers of Planning and Economy, respectively.