According to the motto "Get new technology first", Hannover Messe presents the latest trends and innovations in the field of robotics from 24 to 28 April 2017. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is presenting projects from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and Georg Simon Ohm Institute of Technology in Nuremberg, among others.

During her tour of the fair on Monday, 24 April 2017, Federal Research Minister Johanna Wanka visited the BMBF stand to find out about a project of the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences which shows how service robots can be integrated into the smart home in the future. The head of the project, Professor Matthias König, explained that the "Water Lily" project aims to optimise communication between service robots and the intelligent environment of a building. Moreover, the robots are not only connected to the building intelligence, but also amongst themselves. The project also plans to further develop human–machine interaction so that service robots can, in the future, be instructed to pick up and hand over light objects such as items of clothing.

Subsequently, the research associates Daniel Schneider and Stefan Landkammer from Nuremberg Institute of Technology presented the bionic approach of a multi-axis articulated robot to the Federal Minister of Education and Research. The innovative robot, which is being developed as part of the BioFlexRobot project, is modelled on nature and its structure and function are based on the spider leg. The result is an extremely flexible and elastic robot arm that can support people in various work steps in the factory, such as joining components or lifting loads. The use of air and movable plastic membranes makes the robot arm particularly pliable so that people can work with it without danger.