What impact will robots have on a world in which they are becoming increasingly more widespread and used across all fields? Will automatons be our work mates of the future? Will they be the teachers of the future? Will they be able to prescribe the right medicines when we are ill? These and other questions will be discussed at the Innovation and Science Festival, organised by the Settimo Torinese Local Authorities with the contribution of the ECM (Esperienze di Cultura Metropolitana) Foundation on October 15 to 23. The event will expand its horizons this year and involve the surrounding towns.
As in the past, the 2016 edition, entitled “We, Robots”, will be packed with ideas and debates, workshops for students, meetings with culture and science personalities, project exhibits created by schools and universities and "science cafés" for fostering informal exchanges between students and adults.
Once again, Pirelli will be a partner of the Festival. This is not by chance given the strong bonds with the town which is home to the technologically most advanced Pirelli factory. The company will be supporting the event and contributing with their industrial experience on a theme – that of robotics – which greatly concerns the world of manufacturing. For Pirelli, the Settimo Torinese Industrial Hub an excellence for the application of automation to manufacturing processes.
“The Smart Factory” will be the title of the discussion panel on Tuesday, October 18 at 6 p.m. Managers from Pirelli, Comau, Siemens and L'Oréal will tell about their experience in the area of innovation applied to industrial robotics in their factories in Piemonte. It will be the opportunity for Pirelli to present the example of the Settimo plant which has been totally transformed over the years by investing considerable amounts on innovation and industrial automation. The 2015 edition, dedicated to light, topic chosen to celebrate the International Year of Light, was the opportunity to show how by exploiting R&D factories can be innovative and competitive and bright and beautiful at the same time. This year, the focus will be on how the application of robotics has fostered the creation of one of the most technologically advantaged industrial hubs. And this on international level, not only among the Pirelli plants as a result of the many fully automated production processes and high-tech products applied in Settimo Torinese.
An example is the cutting-edge NEXT MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotised System) for the fully robotised manufacturing of tyres. This system is the evolution of the earlier MIRS. Another example is the smart Cyber Tyre, equipped with a specific sensor capable of directly reading the tyre-road interaction conditions and interfacing in real time with the on-board computer and electronic devices so that the control systems of the vehicle can adapt, react to dangers and contribute to restoring optimal trim.
All examples of excellence, such as robotics and automation applied to industrial production, are fundamental, unavoidable elements for the competitiveness of a company. Introducing increasingly more innovative factors into the factory allows companies to be grow and be competitive, safeguards employment and fosters the creation of new highly skilled professional profiles for interacting with very innovative machinery.
Pirelli will be specifically focusing on application in the industrial context, but the Innovation Festival will be the opportunity to explore the theme of robotics from all angles on interdisciplinary level to explore influences on films, literature and the languages of art, for instance. It will be a voyage to discover a world which is present in many moments of our lives: from schools and homes to hospitals and industries.
This current topic will be tackled at the Innovation Festival in Settimo Torinese by adopting a multicultural approach and fostering the intervention of many scholars from various areas, in the year in which Settimo has submitted the candidature as Culture Capital 2018 capitalising on the town's many strengths: work culture, innovation and know-how.
