AUTOMATICA 2016 (June 21 to 24) exceeded all expectations: around 45,000 visitors (+ 30 percent) and 839 exhibitors from 47 countries (+ 16 percent). One-third of the visitors came from foreign countries. Managing Director Falk Senger: “AUTOMATICA has reached a new dimension. It showed the future of production with deep insights into the possibilities of digitalization, human-robot collaboration and professional service robotics.”

Automation and robotics make Industry 4.0 possible in the first place. Tremendous energy could be felt at the trade fair thanks to the topic. Service robotics recorded a big increase at AUTOMATICA and provided a fascinating insight into the everyday life of tomorrow: the care car in a hospital or the inventory robot for department stores, service robots as driverless transport systems or assistants for people. New production methods – new work processes: Work 4.0 is a main topic at AUTOMATICA. Man and machine will work together in the team in the future. People are the focus with their emotional intelligence, and robots assist them.

Interest from China was never so great. The number of visitors and exhibitors has more than tripled. The Chinese automation boom is becoming increasingly noticeable at AUTOMATICA. A total of 13 delegations came just from China. Song Xiaogang, General Secretary of the China Robotics Industry Alliance (CRIA): “AUTOMATICA is absolutely one of the leading trade fairs for Automation and Robotics, which gives a very strong impression to the Chinese visitors and exhibitors.

Through communication and exchange, CRIA delegation believe, there is a bright future of Sino-German cooperation in automation and robotics.”

Full halls and a great atmosphere: 96 percent of the exhibitors and 98 percent of visitors evaluate the trade fair as excellent, very good or good. Sixty-eight percent of visitors believe that the trade fair will increase in importance in the future. Eighty percent of exhibitors plan to come back.

The next AUTOMATICA will take place In Munich from June 19 to 22, 2018.