From 9-10th of March 2026, the MARS consortium gathered in Aachen for a technical review meeting of the project.
First day Review and demonstrations
The Consortium met up at the RWTH Campus-Boulevard 30 building and we presented our work to the project officer and technical reviewer.
During the two days of the technical review meeting, the progress in the different workpackages was presented. The technical progress was discussed in the following workpackages of the project:
- WP1: Manufacturing process model and hardware platform setup
- WP2: IA modelling
- WP3: Knowledge management & federated learning
After each workpackage presentation there was a dedicated timeslot for questions from the project officer and technical reviewer.
Project Dinner in the City Center of Aachen
The day ended with a project dinner in the city center of Aachen where everyone got to exchange beyond the projects core work.
Shopfloor tour demo at RWTH Aachen
After the first part of the day, a shopfloor tour demo was organized at the Manufacturing Technology Institute of RWTH Aachen where partners presented six different demonstrations showcasing the progress in the project and especially on the MARS platform.
The demonstrations followed this agenda:
- MARS framework and multiagent for allocation of manufacturing
- Generation of alternative process chains (CAPP)
- Multiagent for allocation of manuf. orders on a local PC at MTI
- Turning and milling operations with sensors collecting data and machine power for sustainability
- Homogeneous DB Model simulation and federated learning
- KM tool wear demo and STIL sensor
The shopfloor tour gave everyone real insights into the advancement of the project and the work at the four different manufacturing sites.
Second Review Day and lunch
The second review day focused on WP4,5 and 6 and fruitful discussions between the consortium and the project officer and technical reviewer followed.
- WP4 Framework design and development
- WP5 Communication, dissemination & exploitation, Business model
- WP6 Project management
The project officer and reviewer gave their feedback and discussed open questions with the consortium as well as possible pathways for exploitation. At the end of the meeting, the consortium discussed the overview of the coming work for the end of the project.
The day ended with a lunch in the RWTH Campus-Boulevard 30 building with all project partners.
Thank you to the organizers at RWTH Aachen!
Thank you to RWTH Aachen and Markus Maier for the warm welcome and the excellent organization! The MARS platform is taking shape and in the following months we will integrate our work and show you what results we achieved already.