On November 29, at Polo Piagge, the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Pisa presented its research for the industry of the future to enterprises, institutions and citizens.
The researchers described and showed the technologies developed within the FoReLab (Future Oriented Research Laboratory), the department’s laboratory dedicated to industry 5.0, which brings together cutting-edge projects and devices, destined to profoundly shape and modify society and production processes
The Polo’s atrium hosted a team of robots, submarines, land and air vehicles, for environmental monitoring and protection; research for energy production: silicon nanostructures capable of converting dispersed energy into electrical energy; the mobile networks of the future, based on reliable Artificial Intelligence, which make transparency and privacy protection their cornerstones; innovations in agritech: a sensorized greenhouse to optimize water and nutrients in cultivation, equipped with a robotic arm with a "soft" hand, able to pick tomatoes with the same delicacy as the human hand;
furthermore, research for the future of medicine, which will be increasingly personalized and non-invasive: devices for 3D printing in the biomedical field, which will allow us to regenerate damaged tissues and organs of our body in the future, biodegradable sensors inside the body, able to detect the degree of absorption of drugs, in particular of tumor drugs, evaluating step by step the effectiveness of the therapy, devices able to detect the degree of stress starting from the detection of skin temperature.
Finally, attendees were able to chat remotely with Abel, the humanoid robot that resembles a teenager, who has been equipped by researchers with an artificial intelligence that allows him to understand situations and speak empathetically with his human interlocutors.
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“FoReLab research - explains Giovanni Stea, professor of computer engineering and executive coordinator of the laboratory - aims to enable a new paradigm of industrial management and production, centered on respect for people and the environment, and in general a new approach to the relationship between people and technologies. This requires a decisive change in cultural paradigm, but also, on the part of the research world, to work on visionary enabling technologies with a long-term application horizon.
After almost a year from the start of the FoReLab project, however, we are able to show projects and devices, some of which can already be made available to companies.”
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“We consider supporting companies and production processes a fundamental part of our work as researchers and academics. - comments Andrea Caiti, director of the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Pisa - since 2018 the CrossLabs have been active, five laboratories specifically dedicated to the digital transition of companies through immediately applicable solutions, and which make advanced research concretely and daily usable by companies. The FoReLab and CrossLab laboratories integrate to cover the entire spectrum of needs, from immediately available technologies to those of frontier research, to build a new paradigm of society and production".
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The day ended with a round table that brought together the world of research, institutions, companies and jurists.
"We must not think of Industry 5.0 only in terms of futuristic technological innovations - continues Caiti - Innovation must be accompanied, and perhaps preceded, by an effort from all of society, of an ethical, social and regulatory nature, so that the paradigm shift of 5.0, which wants production processes shaped on the needs of people and the environment, does not remain on paper. Even this effort that is required first and foremost from the business world, this paradigm shift, is not an end in itself, but is, ultimately, what can allow us to keep our production system and our territory competitive and modern.
