Name: Techfounders
Price range: $

1. Challenge

Traditional manual quality inspection processes are prone to inefficiencies and human errors. Moreover, manual processes are time-consuming and often lead to bottlenecks, reducing the speed and efficiency of production lines.

To address these challenges, industries are increasingly adopting automated inspection systems to enhance consistency, speed, and accuracy - however, these systems demand considerable investment and technical expertise. However, innovative solutions from start-ups offer agile implementations to tackle compatibility concerns.

WACKER sought to employ AI-powered solutions to accelerate its workflow and increase the precision of error and object detection in assembly operations.

Scouted Start-up: ANTICIPATE

ANTICIPATE is developing AI-based software to automate camera-based quality control, enhancing the speed and accuracy of error detection in real-time.

Founded in: 2021
Founders: Heiko Wirtz & Kevin Denker
Status: Active
Innovation Area: Quality Control, Warehouse Automation

2. Matchmaking

In collaboration with WACKER, a globally active chemical company, TechFounders strategically pinpointed relevant technological search fields to achieve their defined innovation goals. Among the top candidates discovered through a global scouting process, Aachen-based ANTICIPATE stood out. Their innovative approach and cutting-edge technology led to an invitation to pitch their solution.

Consequently, the team became the leading candidate for the project and joined the TechFounders Pilot Project Program in 2023 as part of Batch #18, with WACKER as their Corporate Partner.

3. Collaboration Set-up

At the beginning of the program, ANTICIPATE and WACKER defined their project objectives, scope, and working mode, launching their collaboration. In addition to the proof-of-concept (PoC) project, the team engaged in various coaching and mentoring sessions, networking events, and pitch opportunities facilitated by TechFounders.

During the PoC phase, ANTICIPATE’s object detection AI model was trained, optimized, and evaluated, showcasing the technology's effectiveness and long-term adoption potential. The successful small-scale PoC project demonstrated the potential of ANTICIPATE’s AI software for object detection.

4. Outcome

Implementation of ANTICIPATE's solution in WACKER's plant promises improved and technology-based detection capabilities for specific objects, ensuring higher recognition accuracy.
Looking ahead, the long-term potential lies in deploying ANTICIPATE’s solution to reduce operator dependency in critical quality control tasks. This serves as a lever, streamlining processes and minimizing the traditionally high effort associated with quality control.