Innovation in action - January 2021

1. Sparks
Innovation In Action
January 2021

2. Uncover the innovations in
products and services that are
fueling industry growth, from a
concrete-flattening robot to
the world’s first anti-collision
AI for motorcycles.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

3. Industrial is a front
runner in combining
human ingenuity with
technology and
innovation.
Thomas Rinn,
Managing Director,
Global Industrial Sector Lead,
Accenture

4. Würth brings
advanced design
to clients
Würth Industry North America (WINA) and energy technology
company Baker Hughes have announced a joint service offering.
The collaboration will provide WINA’s 80,000 clients with access to
advanced design, digital inventory management, and on-demand 3D
printing services, with NASA being among the first to benefit.
“Our existing inventory programs gain a level of automation with no
infrastructure change, and we can take our customers’ ideas from
prototype to small batch production to mass production at
accelerated rates,” said Dan Hill, WINA CEO. The collaboration will tap
into opportunities across the oil and gas, renewables, power
generation, maritime, automotive, and aerospace industrial sectors.
Read full article
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.
4

5. 5
Hyundai’s AI
robot can flatten
concrete floors
Read full article
Hyundai Engineering is seeking a patent for an AI concrete
plastering robot. The robot will use machine learning and a 3D
scanner to detect exactly which floor areas need flattening. It can
then carry out the flattening work independently using two rotating
electric motors fixed with plastering blades. The invention will be
lighter, quieter and more agile than existing plastering machines.
A prototype has already been developed, and Hyundai Engineering
has said the machine could be operational by the end of 2021.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

6. 6
CNH Industrial
launches smart
vehicle initiative
Read full article
The global capital goods company has entered a five-year
agreement with Accenture and Microsoft aimed at developing the
next generation of connected industrial vehicles. The three parties
will collaborate on the design of CNH digital services from newly
created digital hubs located in Brazil, Europe, India and the US.
Accenture and Avanade (Accenture’s joint venture with Microsoft)
will harness AI, analytics, IoT and cloud computing to design,
build, test and scale digital services that support new connected
products, making them smarter, more secure and sustainable.
Future connected vehicles will support CNH customers in
everything from farming and predictive maintenance, to enhanced
fleet management and sustainable transportation. Related services
will also help those customers use data to drive improvements in
areas such as sustainability, agriculture yield and more.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

7. 7
John Deere buys
smart farming
software startup
The machinery manufacturer has acquired Harvest Profit to
provide customers with superior forecasting and profitability
measuring tools. Harvest Profit helps farmers analyze data on a
field-by-field basis to better understand the financial
consequences of every operational decision. “This software
provides financial visibility for customers of their operations,
enabling confident and proactive management decisions that
make them more profitable and sustainable,” said Lane Arthur, vice
president, data, application, and analytics at John Deere. The
software will be available to customers through the John Deere
Operations Center.
Read full article
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

8. 8
Siemens launches rail
signaling in the cloud
Read full article
Austrian rail infrastructure manager OBB-Infrastruktur AG has
installed a new cloud-enabled safety and security platform at
Achau train station. The Siemens Mobility Distributed Smart Safe
System (DS3) digitizes standardized signaling hardware,
eliminating the need for specially made equipment. Trains can
send their position data to the central system via radio link, and
the system uses that data to ensure safety, manages routes and
even predict maintenance issues. The result is a more cost
efficient and flexible system that will drive rail punctuality and
improve safety.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

9. AI saves HELLA
assembly line time
Read full article
Advanced manufacturing company HELLA has seen significant
improvements to assembly line efficiencies after conducting a
10-week-long trial of Drishti Technologies’ AI. HELLA has been using
lean production philosophies since 2007 and installed the
technology on an already highly efficient automotive component
assembly line in Guanajuato, Mexico. Twelve cameras monitored
production and fed that data to Drishti Trace and Drishti Flow
systems, which use AI to conduct video and data analytics.
Drishti can identify potential areas of improvement, in this case
spotting statistical outliers where points in the assembly line were
taking more or less time than others. “Standardized work is the
foundation of our assembly operations and finding opportunities to
improve adherence has the potential to significantly boost our
productivity,” said Marcos Aurelio Alves Junior, operational
excellence and industrial engineering manager at HELLA Mexico.
9 Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

10. Ride Vision launches
motorcycle safety AI
Read full article
Ride Vision has launched the first anti-collision AI built
specifically for motorcycles. The system uses two wide-angle
cameras placed at the front and rear of the vehicle, alert
indicators on the mirrors and an onboard computer. The
hardware and software work together to alert drivers to
potential dangers, from being too close to another vehicle to
blind spots. The onboard AI uses road conditions, speed and
other factors to calculate its decisions. Drivers can also view
summaries of their journeys in the Ride Vision app and export
that data to help calculate fuel needs or insurance costs. The
startup’s technology is backed by $10 million in funding and a
partnership with Continental AG.
10 Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

11. 11
Bosch helps
autonomous robots
recharge on the moon
Read full article
Bosch, Astrobotic, WiBotic, and the University of Washington are
helping NASA’s autonomous robots recharge on the moon via
wireless charging stations. Directing the robots to those stations,
without GPS, is one of the project’s biggest challenges. The Astrobotic
CubeRovers will use a combination of video analytics, inertial
measurements, radio frequency and vibrations to navigate the rocky
terrain. “Navigating a robot on the moon is not the same as navigating
a robotic vacuum cleaner through your home,” said Samarjit Das,
Bosch’s leader of Intelligent IoT group. “We need intelligent fusion and
perception on the robot’s multi-sensory data to solve this unique
challenge.” In other news back on Earth, Bosch is working with BASF
Digital Farming on a joint venture to sell smart farming solutions via a
new company. The Cologne-based company will launch in early 2021
with two products: an Intelligent Planting Solution, which uses data to
decide on seeding and fertilizer prescriptions, and a Smart Spraying
solution that harnesses Bosch’s camera sensor technology.
Copyright © 2021 Accenture. All rights reserved.

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Accenture, its logo, and new applied now are trademarks of Accenture.
1. HoneWürth brings advanced design to clients
https://www.bakerhughes.com/company/news/wurth-and-baker-hughes-announce-joint-service-offering-expand-additive-manufacturing
2. Hyundai’s AI robot can flatten concrete floors
https://www.forconstructionpros.com/concrete/news/21202931/hyundai-engineering-ai-robot-can-flatten-concrete-floors-hyundai-engineering-
seeks-patent
3. CNH Industrial launches smart vehicle initiative
https://media.cnhindustrial.com/EUROPE/CNH-INDUSTRIAL-CORPORATE/LATEST-NEWS/cnh-industrial--accenture-and-microsoft-collaborate-to-
develop-connected-industrial-vehicles/s/ae868323-06b9-47f9-b92d-4be830434208
4. John Deere buys smart farming software startup
https://www.deere.com/en/our-company/news-and-announcements/news-releases/2020/corporate/2020nov12-harvest-profit-acquisition/
5. Siemens launches rail signaling in the cloud
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/first-signalling-cloud-operation
6. AI saves HELLA assembly line time
https://drishti.com/blog/drishti-is-marios-warp-whistle-for-hellas-assembly-lines/
7. Ride Vision launches motorcycle safety AI
https://ride.vision/blog/ride-vision-launches-the-worlds-first-all-encompassing-alert-system-for-motorcycles-raising-7m/
8. Bosch helps autonomous robots recharge on the moon
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/bosch-helping-develop-autonomous-lunar-exploration-robots/
References