Siemens has unveiled significant advancements to its Industrial Copilot, the first generative AI-powered assistant designed specifically for engineering in industrial settings. Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering has joined as a global customer, highlighting the transformative potential of this innovative technology. The Siemens Industrial Copilot stands out as the only solution on the market capable of writing code for automation engineering. Upcoming enhancements will include multimodal capabilities and agent-based automation, further elevating its utility. To ensure complete data sovereignty, Siemens plans to offer the Industrial Copilot for Operations as an on-premises hardware-software bundle.
Rainer Brehm, CEO of Factory Automation at Siemens, underscored the significance of this development, describing it as a groundbreaking tool to accelerate innovation and competitiveness in industrial automation. Thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering has integrated the Industrial Copilot into its battery inspection machines for electric vehicles and plans to deploy it globally by 2025. The Copilot simplifies complex tasks by automating code generation, integrating it into TIA Portal projects, and creating machine visualizations in WinCC Unified. This allows engineers to focus on more innovative tasks, improving efficiency and reducing repetitive work.
Dr. Rolf-Günther Nieberding, CEO of thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, expressed optimism about the collaboration, emphasizing the potential for faster implementation of demanding projects. The Siemens Electronics Factory in Erlangen has also adopted the Copilot for Operations to enhance efficiency on its soldering machines. The system translates error codes into natural language, offers actionable solutions, and reduces machine downtime, streamlining operations and improving productivity.
The development of multimodal capabilities and agent concepts is central to the evolution of the Industrial Copilot. By interpreting visual data and automating complex workflows, the system can tackle intricate tasks with greater efficiency. Agent-based automation enables the Copilot to break down projects into subtasks, gather necessary data, and execute actions independently. This ensures transparency while optimizing production processes.
To address security concerns, the on-premises version of the Copilot processes data locally, using the Simatic IPC 1047E powered by NVIDIA AI microservices. This setup eliminates the need for internet connectivity, providing robust data protection while enabling real-time decision-making. The Engineering Copilot TIA Essential, available on the Siemens Xcelerator marketplace since July 2024, combines Siemens’ automation expertise with Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service for reliable and secure natural language processing. By making industrial AI accessible, Siemens is driving a new era of productivity and innovation in automation engineering.
