Edge AI 4 Automation

The overall objective of the project is to support Flemish manufacturing companies in the reliable and practical deployment of edge AI on PLCs and industrial PCs for real-time process control. While many manufacturing companies currently rely on cloud-based solutions for the automation of business and production processes, this project explicitly focuses on edge AI applications as a response to the limitations of cloud technologies in industrial environments, such as latency, autonomy, and data security.

The project aims to develop and demonstrate practical edge AI solutions that are aligned with the realities of PLC-controlled production environments. The target group consists of Flemish manufacturing companies with a strong automation background, particularly SMEs that are already familiar with industrial automation but have limited experience with the practical implementation of AI at the edge.

For each of the five demonstrators, both SMEs and large enterprises will be involved in the validation process. The demonstrators are not designed to address company-specific challenges but rather serve as shared learning environments that facilitate knowledge transfer between the different types of partners.