Imaging processes are a standard tool for the detection and identification of objects in many automated industrial processes. Without the ability of this technology to assess objects in terms of their spatial position, quality or design, many processes in production, for example, could not be carried out at the desired speed. Agricultural robots are a challenging example of this. Changing weather conditions, a freely accessible work area that needs to be secured and challenging, frequently moving objects that need to be identified place high demands on the sensor technology.

The key component in the development of autonomous machines such as service robots or agricultural drones are new meta-detectors for imaging, which can obtain additional information from or about the environment over and above the existing methods for evaluation. Meta-material sensors can not only direct and reflect light through miniaturized magnifying glasses and mirrors, but also stretch, stretch, distort and manipulate it in other ways so that different superimposed information in the light can be analyzed and viewed separately.

The most important key factor for future smart automation is designed, newly developed metasurfaces and metamaterials, as well as various processes in the field of artificial intelligence.