SCHUNK is strengthening its focus on strategic partnerships to accelerate the deployment of intelligent automation in industrial applications. At Hannover Messe 2026, the company showcased several partner projects demonstrating how physical AI, robotics, and smart factory solutions can be directly integrated into production environments.
The company highlighted that combining physical AI with decades of expertise in gripping and automation technology is enabling more adaptive systems, robust processes, and increasingly autonomous robotic operations. These developments are helping manufacturers address challenges such as skilled labor shortages, rising costs, and complex handling tasks that are difficult to manage with conventional automation systems.
To simplify the adoption of automation, SCHUNK is collaborating closely with partners across consulting, technology, and research. According to the company, this approach helps combine expertise and create practical, quickly deployable solutions aimed at improving productivity, accelerating implementation, and increasing operational resilience.
Physical AI in practice – collaboration with BCG
Within the framework of Hannover Messe, SCHUNK and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) announced a strategic collaboration to accelerate the adoption of physical AI in manufacturing. The goal is to bring AI-powered robotics from simulation into real production environments faster. Together, the two partners aim to help customers identify high-impact automation opportunities, develop proof-of-concept solutions, and scale industrial applications. BCG contributes expertise in AI, digital trans-formation, and process, while SCHUNK brings its know-how in automation and industrial applications.
Simulation as starting point – collaboration with EY, NVIDIA, and Wandelbots
SCHUNK collaborates with EY, NVIDIA, and Wandelbots to scale physical AI for the mid-sized European companies, leveraging NVIDIA technology. Central to this is the modular SCHUNK GROW automation cell, a standardized production unit for handling, assembly, and inspection. With the integration of NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and the NVIDIA Isaac open simulation framework, the cell – including its robot motions, gripping processes, and complete workflows – can be virtually modeled, trained, and validated. This reduces risk, shortens commissioning time, and stabilizes process start-up. Wandelbots contributes the NOVA platform for software-defined robot control and data integration, while EY is responsible for the operating model and go-to-market strategy.
Connected manufacturing – collaboration with STACKIT, Cybus, and Next Level Mittelstand
Together with STACKIT, the cloud provider of Schwarz Digits, Cybus, and with the support from Next Level Mittelstand, SCHUNK provided a preview of a scalable smart factory solution for SMEs. As the center was the AI-powered GROW automation cell, which represents a complete production step: components are supplied via a palletizing module, handled by a robot using a gripper, and then precisely laser-marked. In a visualization, multiple GROW cells were combined into a ”smart micro factory.“ The open system can be seamlessly integrated into additional automation cells or third-party systems, making sovereign, rapidly scalable smart factory scenarios for SMEs tangible in practices.
Technology transfer in humanoid robotics – in collaboration with DLR
SCHUNK signed a license agreement at the Hannover Messe with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) covering robotic hand technologies developed as part of the “SmartHand” project. Based on DLR technology, SCHUNK will further develop its modular, humanoid robotic hands, particularly their fine motor skills for industrial applications. With this cooperation, the two partners build on nearly 20 years of close collaboration and now aim to combine mechanical expertise with cutting-edge robotics research and AI to solve demanding automation tasks in practical, real-world applications.
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