SME Metaverse Factory Showcases Manufacturing AI Technology at Hannover Industrial Fair

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 2nd that a domestic SME and university alliance participated in the Germany Hannover Industrial Fair, held over four days, with a manufacturing-specialized virtual factory (Metaverse Factory).

The Hannover Industrial Fair, held since 1947, is the world's largest industrial technology exhibition. This year, under the theme of ‘Industrial Transformation,’ over 6,500 companies from 75 countries worldwide participated.

The alliance attending this fair was composed of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Manufacturing AI Big Data Center, domestic SMEs (Digifore, ABH, KEMP), Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), and Hanyang University.

The SMEs in the alliance were supply and adoption companies that participated in AI solution development through the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ ‘AI Consulting and Demonstration Project.’ Through this project, the ministry supported demonstration funds, datasets, and computing resources for AI solutions that could serve as a foundation for applying metaverse technology. Based on this, the alliance’s companies and universities built an intelligent metaverse system.

At the Hannover Industrial Fair experience center, many people interested in the ‘Metaverse Factory’ participated. The experience center was designed to allow participants wearing augmented reality equipment to visit a virtual plating factory.

Additionally, participants could directly operate the plating process connected to a Korean site within the metaverse and experience the optimization process of plating bath operation based on manufacturing AI analysis results.

Without spatial constraints, participants from various countries could demonstrate access to the ‘Metaverse Factory’ using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR) equipment, and metaverse solutions. It was evaluated that the potential for operational optimization and quality improvement using virtual simulation tools in the manufacturing sector’s metaverse was confirmed.

Lee Hyun-jo, Head of the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “Through this fair, we were able to confirm the excellence of domestic AI and metaverse technologies and the development capabilities of small and medium manufacturing enterprises. We will continue to actively support the smart innovation of small and medium manufacturing enterprises, the utilization of manufacturing data, and the application and expansion of AI technology to support the global leap of domestic companies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.