SS01 - Robustness and Uncertainty Quantification in Industrial AI
Special Session Organized by
Aldo Dagnino, North Carolina State University, USA, Marcel Dix, ABB Corporate Research Center, Germany, Franz C. Kunze, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, Gianluca Manca,, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and Mehmet Mercangöz, Imperial College London, UK.Download Call for Papers
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The deployment of Industrial AI systems in manufacturing and process industries demands robust solutions capable of maintaining consistent performance despite variability and disturbances. Robustness ensures reliable operation under diverse conditions, minimizing risks. However, uncertainties from incomplete data, model limitations, or unexpected scenarios must also be quantified and communicated effectively. This session addresses strategies to enhance AI robustness, integrate uncertainty quantification, and convey insights through human-machine interfaces. It targets not only operators but also engineers and professionals relying on AI for planning, optimization, and decision-making, supporting trust and informed use of AI in industrial contexts.Topics under this session include:
SS02- Practical Applications of Automated Guided Vehicles and Autonomous Mobile Robots for Warehouse Logistics
Special Session Organized by
Peter Detzner, Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, Germany, Sven Franke, TU Dortmund University, Germany, Jana Jost, Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, Germany, and Steffen Bondorf, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.Download Call for Papers
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In recent years, global disruptions like pandemics and shipping route blockages have exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, while customers increasingly demand personalized products, rapid availability, and sustainability. These challenges place significant pressure on the manufacturing and logistics industries to adapt and innovate. A key solution lies in adopting automated systems such as AGVs and AMRs, which improve agility, efficiency, and resilience in operations. These technologies are used across manufacturing, warehousing, and hospitals, enabling autonomous operations in dynamic environments. The focus is on practical applications of AGVs and AMRs to enhance transparency, meet customer demands, and ensure sustainable, future-ready warehouse logistics systems.Topics under this session include:
SS03 - Addressing Data Scarcity: Machine Learning, Information Fusion, and Sustainable AI
Special Session Organized by
Christoph-Alexander Holst, inIT – Institute Industrial IT, Germany, Volker Lohweg, inIT – Institute Industrial IT, Germany, Rui Pinto, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Portugal Simona Salicone, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and Pedro Torres,Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco, Portugal.Download Call for Papers
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Machine learning often relies on large datasets, but real-world applications frequently face data scarcity due to limited sensor capabilities, expensive labeling, or rare phenomena such as machine faults. The goal in dealing with scarce data must be to obtain as much information as possible from the available data. Overcoming data scarcity is not only a technical challenge but also a step towards sustainable AI, enabling the development of effective models with fewer resources and minimising energy-intensive data collection and labeling processes. Methods to address data scarcity include data efficient algorithms, data augmentation, transfer learning, and information fusion that explicitly model and manage uncertainty.Topics under this session include:
SS04 - Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Maritime Ports
Special Session Organized by
Ioannis Krikidis, University of Cyprus, Cyprus, Sotiris Nikoletseas, University of Patras, Greece, and Charalampos Orfanidis, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.Download Call for Papers
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Maritime ports are evolving into smart energy hubs, integrating renewable energy sources and advanced digital infrastructure to support global trade and environmental sustainability. This special session aims to explore the deployment of underwater networks in maritime ports for real-time energy monitoring, asset tracking, and environmental management. These systems can enable robust monitoring of underwater energy assets such as tidal turbines and underwater cabling, while facilitating data-driven decision-making for renewable energy distribution and ship routing. The special issue aims to contribute to the vision of sustainable smart ports, bridging the gap between underwater technologies and green energy innovation.Topics under this session include:
SS05 - Capability- and Skill-based Engineering of Manufacturing Systems
Special Session Organized by
Tobias Kleinert, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, Aljosha Köcher, Helmut Schmidt University, Germany, Kristof Meixner, CDL-SQI, TU Wien, Austria, Siwara Schmitt, Fraunhofer IESE, Germany, Michael Winter, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and Luis Miguel Vieira da Silva, Helmut Schmidt University, Germany.Download Call for Papers
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As customer requirements tend to change more and more frequently, it becomes necessary to pursue flexible and adaptive automation approaches. Such approaches demand an explicit description of the functionality that a production system provides and that products to be manufactured require. Recent research has introduced approaches based on capabilities and skills using holistic data models (i.e., ontologies, DSLs, variability models …). While capabilities are seen as an abstract description of (manufacturing) functions a system is able to perform, skills are often described as their executable counterparts (i.e., implementation with an invocation interface such as OPC UA). In order to find solutions for a customer requirement automatically, required tasks as well as domain-specific constraints have to be matched with capabilities provided by automation components. This can be achieved by various techniques such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) planning, satisfiability checks or knowledge graph exploration and reasoning. Process plans can then be orchestrated by combining skills, which are related to capabilities found in the previous step. Finally, simulation and optimization of such process plans can be performed before executing them.Topics under this session include:
SSS06 - (Gen)AI driven Safe, Secure, and Sustainable (I)-IoT/CPS
Special Session Organized by
Muhammad Taimoor Khan, University of Greenwich, UK, Dimitrios Serpanos, ISI Athena, ECE, University of Patras, Greece, Howard Shrobe, MIT CSAIL, USA, Kunio Uchiyama, AI Chip Design Centre, Japan.Download Call for Papers
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Computing constitutes a fundamental component of the emerging initiatives like Society 5.0, Industry 5.0, Healthcare 5.0, and Agriculture 5.0 (aka X 5.0), which combine cyber and physical spaces (i.e., processes) and requires control and monitoring techniques for their operation and management. In X 5.0, people, things, devices, and systems are connected in cyberspace and operate exploiting automated methods, including machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Such operation and management bring new value to industry and society in ways not previously possible. Typical cyber physical systems (CPS) are based on (I)IoT (Industrial - Internet of Things) and (I)CPS (Industrial - Cyber Physical Systems) and have applications in all critical infrastructure domains with strict real-time requirements, such as healthcare, electric grid, transportation, to name a few. Intentional or accidental errors/failures/attacks to these systems have highly severe consequences. Therefore, novel design methodologies are required to ensure that design of real-time cyber physical systems and applications in the emerging Society 5.0 are free of vulnerabilities, threats and attacks. Since the physical part of CPS involves several processes, typically, it is challenging to ensure that the design is free from all known vulnerabilities. It is necessary to develop run-time monitoring and analysis techniques that can help to detect run-time incidents by observing the processes and their data. Furthermore, adequate modelling of CPS physical processes and corresponding cyber and physical attacks is fundamental to systematically model, analyse and verify real-time security of CPS. Importantly, since AI and machine learning have demonstrated their success in many application areas including cyber security, this special session focuses on investigating AI, machine learning and formal methods-based techniques to develop safe, secure, privacy and law-aware real-time cyber physical systems, digital twins and smart cities at all levels, from hardware components to applications.Topics under this session include:
- Safety, security, privacy and law in cyber-physical systems (CPS), networks and communication
- Prevention, detection and mitigation techniques for real-time protection against cyber, and non-cyber threats
- Hardware design for safe, secure, privacy and law-aware RT-CPS
- Vulnerability analysis of RT-CPS applications
- Attack modeling and performance analysis of RT-CPS
SS07 - Evaluation Methods for Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems’ Behavior
Special Session Organized by
Luis Alberto Cruiz Salazar, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Cartagena, Colombia, Felix Gehlhoff, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany, Christoph Legat, Technical University of Applied Sciences, Augsburg, Germany, Artan Markaj, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany, Mehmet Mercangöz, Imperial College London, United Kingdom, and André Scholz, Siemens AG, Germany.Download Call for Papers
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Global competition, shorter product life cycles, and volatile markets are straining manufacturing, logistics, and energy operations. Workforce shortages further threaten the production of essential goods and system operations. To address this, increasing autonomy in cyber-physical systems (CPS) is key. Autonomous CPS make decisions without human intervention, systematically execute processes, adapt to environmental changes, and self-govern resources. However, their behavior is often complex and unpredictable, making evaluation crucial. This includes testing, verification,diagnostics, and performance analysis using data-driven (e.g., Generative AI), knowledge-driven, and simulation-based methods. Potential use cases range from simulation-based goal selection to explaining CPS actions to operators.Topics under this session include:
SS08 - Software Engineering for Cyber-Physical Production Systems (SECPPS)
Special Session Organized by
Holger Eichelberger, University of Hildesheim, Germany, Kevin Feichtinger, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, Kristof Meixner, TU Wien, Austria, Felix Rinker, TU Wien, Austria, and Alois Zoitl, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.Download Call for Papers
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With the emergence of Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPSs), systems engineers are currently facing a dramatic increase in the complexity of developing and operating systems. In particular, software plays an increasingly important role in the effective and efficient operation of CPPSs. Despite the tremendous progress in software engineering approaches and technologies, these approaches and techniques do not seem to reach industry. More comprehensive and systematic views on all aspects of systems and their development process are required. The 3rd Edition of the Special Session on Software Engineering for Cyber-Physical Production Systems (SECPPS) aims to discuss challenges in adopting state-of-the-art software engineering tools and techniques to CPPSs and highlight new approaches and methods for the design of software for production systems. The following list of topics is of interest for this special session. However, we also invite submissions on related topics, i.e., this list is by no means exhaustive. If in doubt, feel free to ask the organizers.Topics under this session include:
SS09 - Industrial Wireless Systems Measurements, Performance Assessment, and Standardization
Special Session Organized by
Rick Candell, NIST, USA, Allen Chen, IES Society, Victor Huang, IES Society, USA, Kang Lee, NIST, USA.Download Call for Papers
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Wireless communications emerge as an enabling technology for facilitating industrial system communications by providing high flexibility, ease of reconfiguration, and lower installation costs. Reliability and latency in industrial wireless network applications are essential. Industrial wireless environments can be harsh and demanding due to physical layout, objects deployed, and interference. In mission-critical industrial applications, signal and data transmission loss and retransmissions would not be allowed. Thus, expected wireless system performance must be appropriately managed, quantified, measured, and assessed to maximize user benefits and widen the adoption of wireless technology in factory automation and industrial environments.Topics under this session include:
SS10 - Zero Defects Manufacturing in the Industry 4.0 Era AI-Driven Quality, Automation, and Cyber-Physical Systems
Special Session Organized by
Gil Gonçalves, SYSTEC, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal, Paulo Leitão, CeDRI, Bragança Polytechnic University, Portugal, Nikolaos Nikolakis, LMS, University of Patras, Greece.Download Call for Papers
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Zero Defects Manufacturing (ZDM) in the Industry 4.0 era leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), automation, and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) to enhance quality control and eliminate defects in production. Key enablers include the Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) and Asset Administration Shell (AAS) for seamless interoperability, along with non-destructive inspection (NDI) techniques and AI-driven quality assessment. Automation technologies and Digital Twin solutions enable real-time process adaptation and waste reduction, ensuring efficiency and precision in smart manufacturing environments. This session explores cutting-edge strategies and technologies driving the next generation of defect-free, data-driven, and intelligent production systems.Topics under this session include:
SS11 - Smart and Efficient - Emerging Trends in Building Automation
Special Session Organized by
Jakub Grela, AGH University of Krakow, Poland, Andrzej Ożadowicz, AGH University of Krakow, Poland, Lukasz Wisniewski, Institute Industrial IT / Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Germany, John Gialelis, University of Patras, Greece, Stylianos Karatzas, University of Patras, Greece, and Tullio Facchinetti, AGH University of Krakow, Poland.Download Call for Papers
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This special session focuses on emerging technologies in building automation, emphasizing intelligent control, energy efficiency and sustainability. Key topics include AI-driven optimization, IoT-enabled real-time monitoring, and data-driven decision-making. Contributions are expected to address challenges in system interoperability, cybersecurity, and adaptive automation. Special attention will be given to energy and air quality management strategies, occupant-centric solutions, and the role of digital twins in holistic system modelling and predictive maintenance. The session aims to highlight innovative research and practical implementations that enhance building performance, sustainability, operational efficiency as well as increase the well-being of persons in the indoor environment. Authors are encouraged to present novel approaches, case studies, and future trends shaping next-generation smart buildings.Topics under this session include:
SS12 - Industrial Cybersecurity Methods and Technologies
Special Session Organized by
Paulo C. Bartolomeu, University of Aveiro, Portugal, and Amjad Gawanmeh, University of Dubai, UAE.Download Call for Papers
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Industrial cybersecurity has emerged as a key topic of research in recent years due to the massive connectivity brought by the Internet of Things and the rise of cyber-attacks against industrial assets. While fostering contemporary use-cases and applications, the ubiquitous access to the Internet has also exposed legacy operational technologies to new and challenging security threats that need to be addressed. This Special Session focuses on novel security, safety, and privacy-enhancing technologies for existing and future industrial applications.Topics under this session include: