At Hannover Messe 2025, Accenture and Schaeffler AG presented a collaborative effort for industrial automation by integrating simulation, artificial intelligence, and robotics technologies from NVIDIA and Microsoft. The initiative demonstrates applications ranging from manual labor to fully automated operations involving autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), collaborative robots, and general-purpose humanoid robots such as Agility Robotics’ Digit and Sanctuary AI’s Phoenix.
The companies have developed a proof-of-concept that explores how AI-enabled digital twins can support planning, commissioning, and optimization of manufacturing and distribution environments. Built on the NVIDIA Omniverse development platform, these digital twins allow simulation of facility layouts and workflows to streamline material handling, robot integration, and collaboration between human workers and machines.
Accenture’s simulations show Agility Robotics’ Digit performing tasks such as tote transport and kitting within a virtual replica of a Schaeffler facility. Sanctuary AI’s Phoenix robot is trained through imitation learning using visual data from both physical environments and Omniverse simulations. These efforts are supported by NVIDIA Metropolis vision AI, which enables behavioral modeling by capturing and translating real-world actions into virtual environments.
The project also includes integration with Microsoft Fabric, an AI-powered data platform used to analyze performance indicators like equipment availability and utilization. This enables factory staff to compare operational scenarios and address inefficiencies using insights drawn from simulated data. A generative AI agent developed by Accenture and Avanade is deployed at Schaeffler’s production site in Schweinfurt, Germany, to assist workers by providing real-time operational information via natural language queries.
The collaboration builds on Accenture’s investment in physical AI and its strategic partnership with Sanctuary AI, and reflects findings from Accenture’s 2025 Technology Vision report, which suggests that general-purpose humanoid robots could play an increasing role in industrial environments. According to recent Accenture research, 49% of factory managers expect AMRs to be integral to future operations, and 43% foresee humanoid robots becoming standard in assembly processes.
