“Cognitive robotics is robotics that can think.” For Ton Peijnenburg, CTO at VDL Enabling Technologies Group and Programme Council member at Holland High Tech, this is the key difference compared with traditional robots. “A traditional robot always does the same thing. Cognitive robotics can perceive, reason and adjust its actions accordingly. This makes a robot much more versatile.”
Peijnenburg has been involved in robotics for many years. Even during his time at Philips in Eindhoven, he was working on robot football. “The aim of robot football is to beat the human world football champions by 2050.” According to him, this illustrates just how rapidly developments can progress. “When you see what’s happening on the pitch now, you’d think we still have a long way to go. However, if you believe in exponential development, there’s still a lot of potential, and in a few years’ time a humanoid robot might well be able to play through balls,” he laughs.
Flexibility as a competitive advantage
According to Peijnenburg, it is precisely this flexibility that is essential for the Dutch manufacturing industry. “We don’t produce hundreds of thousands of identical products a day here. Dutch companies often work with small batches and a wide variety of products. Traditional automation is often too costly or not flexible enough for this.”
In this regard, he highlights the difference between mass production and the situation in the Netherlands. “If you’re welding cars together or manufacturing iPhones, you can use traditional automation. In that case, you’re producing thousands or tens of thousands of products a day. That’s not what we do in the majority of our manufacturing sector. We produce much more diverse products. It is precisely in this context that cognitive robotics makes automation economically viable.”
At VDL, too, automation has been a strategic choice for many years. “To remain competitive internationally, we need to produce more efficiently. Energy is more expensive here, and labour is more expensive. So you have to ensure you remain productive. That means automating, including through the use of robotics.”
Peijnenburg sees the preservation of knowledge and experience as an advantage that is at least as important. “An ageing population doesn’t just mean there are fewer workers; it also means that experience is being lost. If you pass that on to a generation of robots, those robots can simply copy their instructions. If one robot can perform a task, then they can all do it.”
"Flexible robots boost the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry."
Ton Peijnenburg,
Strategic autonomy
The development of cognitive robotics is accelerating rapidly thanks to the major strides being made in AI. According to Peijnenburg, this goes far beyond mere automation. “Strategic relevance is not just about the robot itself, but also about the software, the data and the way in which you train robots.”
Peijnenburg argues that companies need to start working differently. “You programme traditional robots step by step. Cognitive robots, on the other hand, are trained using AI techniques. This requires digital models of your factory, your product and your processes. These models represent knowledge and value. You don’t want that knowledge to simply disappear to the robot supplier. Smart robots also call for smart choices. The availability of robots also plays a role. You want the robot to be available when you need it. In addition, you want to be able to differentiate. Perhaps you need a slightly different arm or gripper for precision assembly. Then you want to be able to develop and apply that yourself.”
That is why he believes it is important for the Netherlands and Europe to invest in their own expertise and technology. “The nightmare scenario is the ‘kill switch’: you don’t want to be dependent on a third party that can remotely decide whether your factory will still be running tomorrow.”
Making decisions together
According to Peijnenburg, the Netherlands does not need to be a frontrunner in every field. “We should instead look at where we are already economically strong. Cognitive robotics can have a major impact, particularly in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and horticulture.”
That idea also forms the basis of the National Agenda for Cognitive Robotics. Through this initiative, Holland High Tech and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy are bringing together relevant companies, research institutions and public authorities. According to Peijnenburg, this requires, above all, focus. “We are a small country. If we want to make our mark, we have to make choices. This does not, however, mean that we have to keep everyone happy. Collaboration should not mean that everyone has to be able to take part. The parties that want to make a difference must agree amongst themselves how they are going to do this together.”
“The Netherlands does not need to be the best at everything. Above all, we must strengthen those sectors and key technologies in which we already stand out on the international stage. If we make the right choices in this regard, cognitive robotics can make a significant contribution to the competitiveness of the Dutch manufacturing industry.”
