Hackathon delivers AI innovations to simplify manufacturing
The first-ever global Intelligent Manufacturing Hackathon within Sandvik brought together teams from six locations to explore new ideas for manufacturing software. During one day, software developers and experts stepped beyond their daily work to make our software even more user-friendly using AI. Congratulations to everyone involved for driving innovation through collaboration.
On October 8, Sandvik brought together 183 participants across 42 teams and six host locations. A coordinated effort spanning five time zones and disciplines. We challenged our teams to re-imagine user experience in manufacturing software and they delivered beyond expectations. Curiosity to try new things, responsibility to take action, customer focus in mind and a fantastic spirit of winning together. It was a day filled with teams exploring how software, manufacturing knowledge and new interfaces can come together to shape tomorrow’s software solutions.
Location India Innovation hub
What set this apart was the maturity of ideas, rather than speculative concepts. Many teams focused on solving concrete challenges faced on shop floors, in programming environments and across data workflows. The result was a collection of prototypes ready to move into the product roadmaps to simplify manufacturing.
Location SigmaNEST
Location Vericut
Two winning teams
During the day, the teams worked through their ideas and prepared a short film to showcase their solution. A jury consisting of leaders for the software brands, customers and partners such as Microsoft evaluated the ideas and two winners were selected.
Solution: AI feed optimizer
Machinists regularly face the question: Which parameters are right for this material and setup? Team Citrine proposed a system designed to answer that directly, offering context-aware recommendations for feeds and speeds. Unlike generic assistants, it is built specifically for machining logic and intended to support frequent, everyday decisions improving confidence and consistency in process planning.
Location Mastercam
Solution: Gesture control of measurement commands
One of the standout concepts reimagined how operators interact with inspection systems. Instead of relying on keyboards or touch screens, Team Obsidian introduced a gesture-based interface for metrology tasks. In practical terms, it allows someone on the shop floor to trigger a measurement or confirm a step with a simple hand motion. This approach acknowledges real working conditions, gloves, noise, limited mobility and proposes a more natural form of control.
Location Metrologic
Location DCS
A big thank you to our partners who supported this hackathon, Microsoft for the support and AI training that helped make these projects possible.
Congratulations to all participants for a work well done - with an extra special congratulation to the two winning teams! Thank you to everyone who participated – and to our users, know that we’re working hard to turn these innovations into reality for you.