Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente GmbH, a broadline distributor of electronic components, has acquired a 30% stake in collective mind GmbH, a developer of machine vision applications for AI environments. The companies plan to combine their expertise in component distribution with automated image processing for future-oriented AI solutions. "We are joining forces with Rutronik with the aim of offering internationally scalable software and hardware solutions developed from a single source for AI applications in retail and industry, among others,” said Artur Hefner, a managing director at collective mind. (From left) Rutronik COO Fabian Plentz, collective mind managing director Armin Bär, Rutronik CEO Thomas Rudel, and collective mind managing directors Joshua Raabe and Artur Hefner. Courtesy of Rutronik Elektronische Bauelemente. Collective mind, which the collaborating companies said was the first company in Germany to develop a certified security system based on camera-based object and sequence recognition, will combine its expertise in AI-based image processing methods with Rutronik, which primarily contributes hardware expertise at the product level of electronic components. Together with collective mind's software expertise, Rutronik’s capabilities, the company said, are already being tested in practical scenarios such as logistics and shipping. "The trend is towards complete embedded solutions with powerful, compact hardware for compute-intensive AI applications," said Fabian Plentz, COO of Rutronik. "The integration of hardware and software is often a major challenge, as it cannot be offered from a single source. Through our investment in collective mind, we can now offer this on the market for the first time and hopefully gain the decisive advantage for our current customers and future business partners.” The companies have already initiated further international AI development projects to optimize process chains in the distribution sector, including using AI-supported image processing to accelerate traceability at the product level. The companies aim for the developed logistics AI application to automatically and correctly recognize information, even if the formats and arrangements of product data on the corresponding product labels change, without requiring adaptations to software. A pilot of the development initiative is currently running at Rutronik's logistics center in Germany.