EMPOWR technologies will be validated through two full-scale industrial pilot demonstrations. The pilots represent different production conditions, worker requirements and industrial challenges, allowing the consortium to test the adaptability, usability and impact of the EMPOWR ecosystem across varied manufacturing contexts.
Both pilots will be connected to Living Labs, where workers, managers and stakeholders will provide feedback through co-design, scenario building and iterative validation. This approach ensures that the technologies are not only technically advanced, but also usable, trustworthy and aligned with real workplace needs.
Location: Netherlands – SAM XL / aerospace manufacturing environment.
The aerospace pilot focuses on thermoplastic composite layup using Automated Fiber Placement for aerospace-related parts. This environment involves high complexity, strict quality requirements and physically or mentally demanding tasks. Operators need to identify defects such as gaps, overlaps, foreign object debris and incomplete consolidation, often under time pressure and with limited visibility inside the robot cell.
EMPOWR will demonstrate how physical and digital augmentation can support operators with real-time information, defect awareness, AR-based guidance, adaptive assistance and Digital Twin-enabled decision support. The goal is to improve quality, reduce stress, support safer intervention and balance productivity with laminate integrity.
Location: Greece – automated PET preform production environment.
The PET production pilot focuses on a smart automated production facility where high-throughput manufacturing requires reliability, continuous monitoring, fast intervention and efficient human-machine collaboration. The pilot will test EMPOWR technologies in a more automated industrial context, demonstrating how the ecosystem adapts to different workflows, equipment and operator needs.
EMPOWR will support workers and managers through real-time monitoring, AI-based guidance, adaptive AR information, Digital Twin integration, strain-aware assistance and training support. The pilot will help evaluate the ecosystem’s effect on safety, productivity, quality, inclusivity and worker acceptance.
The two pilots will allow EMPOWR to compare how human-centric augmentation works in low-volume, high-complexity aerospace manufacturing and in automated PET production. Cross-pilot analysis will generate evidence on usability, training needs, trust, worker well-being, productivity, ethical concerns and replication potential.
