Ilmenau Science Night 2026

To date, conventionally driven autonomous robots have mostly moved forwards, backwards, round corners and around their own axis. This restricts their use in production and wherever space is limited. In a project with MetraLabs, we have been researching an extended movement repertoire with sideways movements and heavier lifting manoeuvres, which will enable innovative production-related applications. A research demonstrator will be on show at the Science Night. An autonomous mobile robot from MetraLabs, which is already doing its job in the retail sector, will also be mingling with the guests. [Exhibition stand | for all ages]

You can enjoy lots of crunchy fruit and vegetables if it rains properly or if you water enough. What applies on balconies and in the garden is becoming a real challenge, especially in agriculture, in view of the increasing number of dry periods. That's why we bring sensor technology to the field with the plants and offer solutions for using scarce water precisely and fully automatically – with data on soil moisture, weather forecasts, drought stress, flowering status or fruit size, for example. Our demonstrator shows how the entire control system works and how a farmer can keep an eye on everything. [Exhibition stand | 13 years and older]

Did your last bike ride leave you with wheels that were spinning or did something vibrate strangely or differently than usual on your last car trip? Then it's time for a repair before something breaks completely. In industry, such deviations from normal operation can also be used to find faults and service machines before they become expensive. At our stand, you can train a small energy-autonomous edge AI sensor system for industrial applications and use two demo setups to test whether it can find defects. [Hands-on demo | 13 years and older]

Are you looking for the lost InSignA gemstones? A troll has snatched the treasure and hidden its prey at IMMS. Help us collect the gemstones again! Anyone who finds four stones at the InSignA partners will be rewarded with a certificate and a small treasure at Fraunhofer IDMT! So pick up the trail at  Fraunhofer IDMT. Find the sensor system at IMMS that can search for clues together with AI in industry – it will lead you to the treasure! [Rally | suitable for children]

Hold your breath, be quiet, don't move: Drives that work more precisely than a nanometre do so well shielded on special floors in our laboratory under protective covers. This is because they are sensitive to the smallest disturbances such as temperature differences or vibrations. They are used wherever the smallest structures are manufactured, such as for microelectronic chips. These are often only 1 – 2 mm in size, but have millions of transistors and components such as photodiodes for camera chips in smartphones. We are placing a customised drive in the middle of our guests especially for the Science Night. [Exhibition stand | 13 years and older]

How do you supply small electrical consumers such as sensors with energy autonomously – regardless of the weather and without changing batteries? An inductive energy harvester will be demonstrated, which generates the energy by shaking that makes an electromagnetically driven sledge slide shorter or further depending on your performance. Who will break the institute record? [Hands-on demo | suitable for children]