Robotics and AI

AiPlan4EU: artificial intelligence at the service of European small and medium-sized enterprises

25 November 2020 | Written by La redazione

With a total funding of 5 million euros, the Bruno Kessler Foundation, in partnership with 15 other international partners, will bring the topic of "automatic planning" into the AI4EU platform

In January 2019, the European Commission launched an on-demand artificial intelligence platform. A system that would allow members of the Community (scientists, innovators, businesses, citizens…) to access tools normally within the reach only of research centers or large companies. This is the context of the project coordinated by the Foundation which will develop a framework to make technology and guidelines related to automatic planning accessible to any interested user.

To this end, the project will develop interfaces that can facilitate the adoption of automatic planning technologies in the industrial sector. “A project – explains Paolo Traverso, director of the ICT center of FBK and head of AIPlan4EU – which will above all allow many innovators to come into contact with a technology that has so far been the prerogative of a few selected companies. FBK has worked a lot in recent years on this type of systems and the participation in the project of large companies such as Airbus, Saipem and Procter & Gamble underline the importance of research in artificial intelligence and automatic planning “. The project was selected for funding and will start in 2021 for a duration of 3 years, coinciding with the opening of the new FBK “Digital Industry” research center, which sees automatic planning as one of its main focuses.

 

What is automatic planning and what is it for. Automated planning is a branch of artificial intelligence research where European scientists have traditionally achieved excellent results. In short, it is a “decision-making” technique that facilitates those who have to make decisions in various work areas, ranging from production to logistics. A particularly effective technology in areas where quick choices have to be made, such as in the case of flexible production or digital agriculture. All this takes place through automatic reasoning systems based on predictive models. A solution that has not yet found shared standards and which is, to date, reserved only for specialists: “Although several very effective techniques have been developed over the years, – explains Andrea Micheli, FBK researcher and project representative – still obstacles that complicate the adoption of automatic planning, thus limiting its positive impact on European industry. In this context, the AIPlan4EU project will allow easy access to anyone who needs these tools. ”

The rest of this entry is in italian.

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