Professor Dr. Martin Ruskowski succeeds Professor Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Detlef Zühlke as head of the “Innovative Factory Systems” research department at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Kaiserslautern and also as head of the former Institute of Production Automation at TU Kaiserslautern (PAK), now renamed the Institute of Machine Tools and System Controls (WSKL). Professor Ruskowski holds a professorship in the department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern (TU KL), where his major research focus is on industrial robots as machine tools, artificial intelligence in automation technology, and the development of innovative control concepts for automation.
All equipment and machinery in the factories of tomorrow will be networked: machines will have the ability to communicate and exchange data among themselves. Robots will continue to play an ever greater role in the world of Industrie 4.0. In the future, they may even replace traditional machine tools in some application situations, for example, in the milling of special components. “A priority of my work at TU Kaiserslautern and DFKI will be to improve the fitness of robots for demanding mechanical processing tasks. The new technologies that result from our research will provide more flexibility to companies and, ultimately, serve as a jobs motor in Germany,” said Ruskowski in describing his new responsibilities.
Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster, CEO and technical scientific director of DFKI: “Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Zühlke with SmartFactoryKL, DFKI’s Innovative Factory Systems department has become an international pilgrimage site for Industrie 4.0. I am certain the success story will continue under Prof. Ruskowski. In particular, driving further development is the challenge of creating hybrid teams of robots working alongside with technicians.”
Dr. Ruskowski is an expert in the fields of robotics and Industrie 4.0. At DFKI and TU Kaiserslautern, his aim will be to develop solutions for the digitisation of production plants while also working on new control systems and robot mechanics to increase the efficiency of future generations of industrial robots. He will also study the question of how to make self-optimising machines. A major focus is on Human-Machine Interaction in automated production plants. “In the context of the digitalisation of production, we need new engineering techniques that will allow humans to more closely integrate the production processes,” he added. “We can achieve this in cooperation with Technologie-Initiative SmartFactory KL e.V.” This unique research lab located at DFKI provides ideal conditions for the practical evaluation of ambitious research projects.
Dr. Ruskowski studied electrical engineering at Leibniz University Hannover and also received his doctorate in mechanical engineering there. His doctoral thesis was a study of the dynamics of machine tools and the use active magnet guides for damping vibrations. Prior to his relocation to Kaiserslautern, Ruskowski held several management positions at industrial firms, most recently since 2015 as Vice President for Global Research and Development at KUKA Industries.
