How can data from smart home applications help to solve crimes? How can medium-sized companies from Lower Saxony use robotics solutions sensibly? How can major fires at recycling centres be avoided?
Ostfalia University will be answering these questions at the world's most important industrial trade fair, Hannover Messe (external link, opens in a new window) 2026.
RoboSON - Robot colleague for small and medium-sized enterprises
Our Smart Home Forensics and RoboSON projects will be presented at the joint stand of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (external link, opens in a new window). On 20 April, Minister Falko Mohrs got to know both projects during his tour. "Many people do robotics. What do you do differently from others in this project?" he asked Prof Dr Holger Brüggemann from the Institute of Production Technology in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The Ostfalia professor explains how application-orientated the results of RoboSON are. Concrete discussions are underway with bakeries about the extent to which robots can knead dough and mould dough pieces. "Many bakeries can't find staff because nobody wants to stand in the bakery in the middle of the night. Robotics is part of the solution," says Brüggemann.
Smart home forensics - the vacuum robot as a detective
The findings from the Smart Home Forensics research project are no less suitable for everyday use. Prof Dr Felix Büsching from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology encourages the Minister to join in: On a large touchscreen, Mohrs uses his index finger to let a burglar enter a virtual model house through a window. The air quality sensor immediately detects an improvement in the indoor air. "This data could help with police investigations. The time of the offence can be clearly narrowed down," says Büsching, explaining the cooperation project with the Innovation Hub of the Lower Saxony Police. In addition to the touchscreen, the setup for the Hannover Messe includes an exhibition wall with smart thermostats, light switches or sockets and a tablet that can clearly identify the smart home applications using AI-based image recognition. The robot vacuum cleaner as a detective - that's real Ostfalia too!
Warden Robotics - preventing fires before they start
And another joint stand has a connection to our university: at the Niedersachsen.next Startup stand, Warden Robotics (external link, opens in a new window) will be demonstrating how autonomous and AI-based systems can detect fires at an early stage. Lukas Bartenstein and Lucas Dehmel completed the Ostfalia and Clausthal University of Technology's Digital Technologies cooperative study programme and founded their start-up at the university. Since autumn 2025, they have been supported with an EXIST start-up grant. Based in Wolfenbüttel, Bartenstein, Dehmel and their colleagues Konstantin von Haugwitz and Hans-Jörg Göschl are now helping recycling companies to optimise fire protection at recycling centres. To do this, they are using camera systems in ground robots and drones as well as AI-based image recognition.
Just like RoboSON and Smart Home Forensics, Warden Robotics is a prototype for applied sciences: practice-orientated research from the university solves specific everyday challenges.
Trade fair info: Here are the Ostfalia projects
Fancy a stroll round the fair? Hannover Messe 2026 runs until Friday, 24 April, and all three Ostfalia contributions can be seen in Hall 11: Smart Home Forensics and RoboSON at stand B56, Warden Robotics at stand E44.
