KUKA AG from Augsburg is promising great things for HANNOVER MESSE 2017, which visitors to its stand in Hall 17 will remember for a long time to come. Why’s that? Because KUKA is manufacturing a personal souvenir for anyone who requests one in its custom-built, improved smart factory. This neat idea is meant to send the clear message that digitally networked production processes are already thoroughly capable of manufacturing uniquely customized products. Cloud-based communications place the key to this intelligent interplay between software and robots quite literally in your own hands - in the form of your smartphone, for example, which you can use to monitor progress and directly influence the production process yourself.

Of course, KUKA is not only manufacturing customized trinkets in Hannover. The company is also keen to demonstrate how working together with innovative partners can create an end-to-end ecosystem for flexible Industry 4.0 solutions. In future, customers will be able to easily monitor, network and control their entire production process this way. And even that is not all! KUKA-backed startup Connyun is appearing for the first time and demonstrating how it uses cloud technology to network robots and machines, while fledgling company Roboception, partly owned by KUKA, is highlighting 3D perception for robot systems.