AIKIDO – Generative AI-based Kitting with Integrated Deliberation
AIKIDO brings the future of manufacturing to life by combining AI vision, safe robot planning and natural language interaction. Through industrial test environments, we demonstrate how flexible, intelligent and human-friendly automation can streamline equipment manufacturing, reduce errors and increase efficiency.
By connecting research and industry, AIKIDO empowers companies to adopt breakthrough solutions that make production safer, smarter and more sustainable. AIKIDO develops vision-based methods and VLMs to identify parts and select gripping points. AI-driven kinematic planning optimizes batch orders and ensures safe HRC through intelligent safety protocols. Flexible grippers eliminate the need for tool changes and handle varying parts by size and shape. Combined with natural language, these concepts enable intuitive automation and support circular manufacturing across industries.
The Swedish manufacturing sector requires enhanced adaptability to manage rising product complexity and global competition. The AIKIDO project addresses this challenge by revolutionizing the industrial “kitting” process which is the gathering and packaging of components for product assembly. Currently manual and labor-intensive, kitting is crucial for production but struggles to adapt to dynamic, high-variety environments.
AIKIDO aims to deliver a state-of-the-art, automated kitting solution by integrating advanced robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and deliberate safety protocols. The project leverages emerging technologies to modernize these operations:
- Generative AI: Creates highly realistic synthetic image data to train vision systems before physical parts even exist.
- Vision-Language Models (VLMs): Provides contextual understanding and semantic reasoning for automated, error-free kit verification.
- Large Language Models (LLMs): Enables natural language human-robot interactions, reducing training time and making automation more accessible.
The core purpose of AIKIDO is to create an intelligent, flexible system that transitions essential processes from manual to automated, aligning with Industry 5.0 principles of human-machine collaboration. It prioritizes AI-driven planning to reduce the physical and cognitive strain on workers while ensuring safe, efficient operations.
Ultimately, AIKIDO will yield a real-world demonstrator to serve as a platform for industry education, hands-on training, and competence-building. By optimizing workflows, safety, and material handling, the project fosters agile production environments and will significantly enhance the global competitiveness and sustainability of the Swedish manufacturing industry.
Partners: Volvo Lastvagnar, Hitachi Energy Sweden AB, Chalmers Industriteknik, Binar Solutions AB Repli5 AB
