mechatronics, newmetro

Technical Progress Meeting

The New Metro technical progress meeting was held on the 26th of November, 2020 via the GoToMeeting web platform.

The issues that were being discussed during the meeting are summarized as follows:

  • The participants agreed on the subject of validation of Intellectual Output 3 and Intellectual Output 4 for the subsequent publication on the Erasmus portal.
  • Based on the results of the IO3, the partners came to decision on the duration of the NEW METRO training path.
  • Later on, a brief updating of the status of the collection of materials and progress on the development phase of educational materials was made by 5 partner-countries.
  • Finally, the crucial issue of a possible time extension request to EACEA was put on the table due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation that is raising obstacles to the on-time completion of the project.
  • For one more time, the partners concluded the meeting with “Stay safe!” wishes…
mechatronics, newmetro

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mechatronics, agriculture

Agriculture enters a new smart era

This year’s harvesting in vast Russia was for the first time assisted by autonomous combines equipped with the Cognitive Agro Pilot system. Over 160,000 hectares of field and harvested more than 720,000 tonnes of crops. 590,000 metric tonnes of grain crops such as wheat, soybeans, barley, oats, sorghum, buckwheat, among others, were harvested over 130,000 hectares, and some 130,000 metric tonnes of row crops and roll crops (corn, sunflower, etc.) were harvested over 30,000 hectares in Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kursk, Belgorod, Tambov, Penza, Rostov, Tomsk, Kurgan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Stavropol regions.

mechatronics, agriculture

Cognitive Agro Pilot is an artificial intelligence-based driving system for farming equipment such as grain combine harvesters, tractors, and sprayers. The system “sees” and “understands” what’s lying ahead by analyzing images from a single video camera. It uses a deep learning convolutional neural network specialized for agronomic purposes to understand the types and positions of objects facing the machinery. Cognitive Agro Pilot then instructs the machinery to follow specific movement trajectories and sends commands to perform maneuvers. It’s like devising a route map in real-time.

The whole system includes an autonomous unit to manage farm equipment, a video camera, a display, a set of connecting cables, and other elements of the control system. The user interface is available via an Android mobile app for smartphones or ruggedized tablets. Cognitive Agro Pilot system contributed to saving money this harvesting season because of less consumption of fuel and other related materials, shorter harvesting time or machine hours, reduced equipment depreciation and minimized human errors.

mechatronics, drones

Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank said, “A few years back, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in agriculture was a technology much talked about, but there were no practical examples of its widespread adoption in Russia. Now, once the first harvesting campaign with smart combines is over, we can say with confidence that the future is becoming a reality before our eyes, and what’s especially pleasing is that this is happening with the direct participation of Sber. Russia is one of the leading countries in terms of agricultural production and is a key exporter of wheat, therefore, given the scale of production, the Cognitive Agro Pilot system has the potential to save the domestic agro-industrial complex millions of dollars”.

According to the estimates of project members, in the next three years, every tenth harvester in Russia may become autonomous.

In September 2020, the Cognitive Agro Pilot solution won the Overall Harvesting Innovation of the Year award at AgTec Breakthrough Awards 2020, while a year before it won the AVT ACES AWARD, which was organised by the Autonomous Vehicle Technology magazine.

 

Sources:

https://www.foodandfarmingtechnology.com/news/autonomous-vehicles/russian-ai-enabled-harvesters-reap-720000-tons-of-crops.html

https://www.therobotreport.com/cognitive-agro-pilot-reaps-720000-tons-crops-across-russia/

https://agriculturepost.com/ai-enabled-harvesters-reap-720000-tonnes-of-crops/

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vet, kets, output, mechatronics

Synopsis: Training needs analysis and future scenarios updated and contextualized at regional level

Foreword

THE NEWMETRO PROJECT IS AIMED AT DEFINING AND SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLED RESOURCES AND THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY 4.0 EFFORT ACROSS EUROPE, WITH A FOCUS ON TRAINING NEEDS AND EMERGING SKILLS.

The NewMetro Project will design, develop, concept-validate and experiment an innovative European shared competence framework, the related assessement and certification methods and a European Learning delivery model, based on WBL, Virtual mobility and a European set of VOOC.

Mechatronics as an emerging discipline to manage digital innovation in production systems

The NewMetro analysis clearly demonstrates that, over the last few years, interest in mechatronics has been reinvigorated due to the advances in sensing, communication, and computing.

Collected data show that, nowadays, the scope of mechatronics is very vast and related to multiple fields and domains (such as the Medical field, Robotics, Automotive engineering, Mechanical, Manufacturing Industry and so on).

In addition, NewMetro’s research discovered that in the mechatronics industry, most trends focus on “less”: less power consumption, less weight, less volume and lower costs. Product competition is therefore strongly developing particularly in these areas. At the same time, the robust growth within this industry is leading to rapid growth in the number of suppliers and systems, thus creating a clear risk of substitution.

Speaking of the most important fields of technology for the Project Partner Countries, Advanced design systems and manufacturing integration is believed to be extremely relevant by Greece and Germany. On the other side, Assembly lines management in the mechanical systems industrial sector is considered crucial by Catalonia, Italy, Latvia. Among the most important areas Austria reports the Integration of manufacturing process with real time available data followed by Industrial design with advanced materials. For Poland, from the business point of view, the most important elements in the context of its Industrial Revolution are the availability of not only highly sophisticated machines, but also highly qualified employees.

The most important skills for students and entrepreneurs

Summarising entrepreneurs and students’ point of view, the priority competencies that a technician in mechatronic should have to comply with the production system of the future are:

  • System design and integration/interfacing between electronic and mechanical components, which includes the capacity to assemble and test mechatronic units, set up machine controls, customise software, adjust engineering design
  • Virtual Prototyping tools and techniques (Dynamic simulations, Human in the loop simulation, HMI, AR/VR, Digital Twin development)
  • Robotics programming (set up automotive robot for instance)

In general, students consider extremely relevant Aptly choosing advanced materials (especially in Catalonia, Latvia and Greece) and Robotics Programming; on the other hand, for entrepreneurs System design and Integration/Interfacing and Design virtual testing and validation has crucial importance.

Identify a European Joint Curriculum, starting from the different priorities of the partner countries

New Metro’s researches also tried to compare and classify the different priorities of the Partner Countries regarding some statements about mechatronics discipline.

Except for the evaluation of the statements “A mechatronics study program is an opportunity to attract new students “ and “A smart learning environment is essential for mechatronics courses “, the rest demonstrated statistically significant differences according to the respondent’s country of residence.

For example, regarding the statement Mechatronics can be considered an independent discipline Latvia was particular in favour, Italy and Greece partially agreed, whereas Catalonia expressed a contrary opinion.

The statement “To create a mechatronics study program, teachers must be retrained” have found a favourable opinion in Greece, Italy and Catalonia, whereas the statement “Learning 4.0 is very useful in mechatronics courses” is well received by all countries, albeit with less determination in Greece.

The five most important skills detected

Top 5 of the most important competencies according to all the respondents are the following:

  • System design and integration/interfacing between electronic and mechanical components (assemble and test mechatronic units, set up machine controls, customise software, adjust engineering design) (Mean 0.67);
  • Robotics programming (set up automotive robot) (Mean 0.43);
  • Design virtual testing and validation using modelling and simulation tools (simulate mechatronic design concepts, use CAM software) (Mean 0.41);
  • PLC programming (program a CNC controller) (Mean 0.40);
  • Aptly choosing advanced materials that can suit product or process needs (new) (Mean 0.39).

In the identification of the most important competencies, statistically significant differences (p = 0.049) were found according to the respondent group in the evaluation of the competency PLC programming (program a CNC controller): employers consider it more important (Mean Rank 116.14) than students/young employees do (Mean Rank 100.62).

The results show that according to the employers, only Ability to work with specialised design and mechatronic machine control software is over the mean (Mean 3.03).

 If you wish to get the complete scenario, take a look at the full report here.

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mechatronics, vet, drones

A hawk-like drone that flies long distances with less power

Drones have come to our lives in many aspects. However, their energy consumption and autonomy are still an issue to be dealt with in order to be applicable in more fields of interest. 

As in the past that many discoveries and inventions mimic nature, so a team of researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, led by Enrico Ajanic, have built a 284-gram drone with a maximum wingspan of 1.05 metres inspired by the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis).

Ajanic contended that both multicopter drones and winged drones have an innate flaw. The first ones can hover and move well, but can’t fly long distances, whereas the latter can fly long distances, but aren’t very agile. He claimed that the robo-hawk brings the benefits of different unmanned aerial vehicles into a single unit. 

“These results shed light on the avian use of wings and tails and offer an alternative design principle for drones with adaptive flight capabilities,” wrote the authors in a paper for the journal Science Robotics.

The idea behind constructing this robo-hawk is imitating the flight behaviour of birds by equipping the robot with motors that allow its wings to fold in or out, and its tail to contract or to fan out. The robo-hawk spreads its wings and tail to gain height and then, upon reaching top speed, the wings and the tail are tucked in, thereby enhancing aerodynamics, imitating a real hawk flight. 

“The morphing wing and tail structures of this design are insightful and novel,” said Jonathan Aitken at the University of Sheffield, UK, who was impressed by the robot’s ability to adjust its manoeuvrability mid-flight. “It offers the potential for unconventional flight manoeuvres, such as slow but controlled flight at high angles of attack”.

Ajanic aims to integrate artificial intelligence to increase the robot’s level of autonomy and rendering it capable to fly without human control or supervision.

Sources:

https://www.technology.org/2020/11/02/this-robot-hawk-can-fly-long-distances-and-uses-less-power/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2258426-hawk-inspired-robot-with-movable-wings-is-an-agile-long-distance-flyer/

https://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/5/47/eabc2897

mechatronics, vet, drones

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robotics, mechatronics

Positive reinforcement for “teaching” robots

The first thing coming to our mind when talking about positive reinforcement is maybe dogs. Pavlov with his experiment with his homonymous dogs was o pioneer of behavioural psychology. Something more than a century later from Pavlov’s experiments Johns, Hopkins University computer scientists showed a robot how to teach itself several new tricks, including stacking blocks by using the method of positive reinforcement, an approach familiar to anyone who has used treats to change a dog’s behaviour. With this method, the robot, named Spot, was able to learn in days what typically takes a month.

The study is published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and can be found here.

The challenge in this approach is that computer (~ robot) -unlike humans and animals that are born with highly intuitive brains- is actually a tabula rasa and must learn everything from scratch. Nevertheless, true learning is often accomplished with trial and error, and figuring out how robots can learn efficiently from their mistakes is yet a field to be explored.

With reference to the parallel example of dogs, here the award is gaining numeric points for reinforcement, instead of a cookie at the dog’s parallel.

In order to teach Spot, the robot to stack blocks, it is essential to learn how to focus on constructive actions. As the robot explored the blocks, it quickly learned that correct behaviours for stacking earned high points, but incorrect ones earned nothing. The whole venture was beyond all expectations successful. This prototype provides us a notion of the abilities robots have to learn from mistakes in all types of situations that are critical for designing a robot that could adapt to new environments.

source: https://bit.ly/3kj3HxX, https://bit.ly/2U9Euve

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mechatronics, house, construction

Just a click and… voilà! Your new house!

mechatronics, house, industry 4.0

3-D printing still surprises us with its applications. It seems that there is no limit for such technology and makes our impossible dreams, possible.

One of the latest constructions we can be proud of is the building of the first 3D-printed house in Germany, specifically in Beckum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The printed building is a two-store detached house with a living area of about 80 m2 per floor and is made up of triple-skin cavity walls, which are filled with an insulating compound.

mechatronics, house, construction

This printing process offers designers a high degree of freedom when they are designing buildings, leaving the great financial costs behind. During the printing process, the printer takes into account the pipes and connections for water, electricity, etc. that are to be laid later on. An amazing fact is that the printer can operate in such a way that technicians can carry out work within the printing area while printing is in progress. This means that manual work, such as the installation of empty pipes and connections, can be easily integrated into the printing process.

It is of high importance to conceive the benefits of this process. The use of sustainable materials and therefore in compliance with regulations offers a viable solution to residency issues.

Source: https://www.designboom.com/technology/peri-first-3d-printed-residential-building-germany-10-09-2020/

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mechatronics, robotics

“Who said I can’t walk?”

One of the major contributions of science is serving the humans’ needs. Disabilities make a person feel constrained and fully dependent to his closest people. However, French researchers at biomedical research centre Clinatec and the University of Grenoble claim that they had overcome this problem in a premature, still functional, approach.

A tetraplegic 30-year-old man was able to move all his limbs using a revolutionary mind-controlled exoskeleton fir the first time after he was paralyzed from the shoulders down after falling 15m at a nightclub in 2015. The system, which works by recording and decoding brain signals, was trialed in a two-year study.

The 30-year-old man underwent a surgery to place two implants over the parts of the brain that control movement. Sixty-four electrodes on each implant read his brain activity and beamed the instructions to a computer. With the use of a software the brainwaves are read and turned into instructions to control the exoskeleton.

“It was like being the first man on the Moon”, the 30-year-old man mentioned. For one more time science proves that it works for the improvement of patient’s life providing them a quality life with autonomy.

source: https://bit.ly/3kPH2KK

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robotics, mechatronic

The importance of training by Universal Robots

For Universal Robots, a Danish company specializing in automation and production of cobots, training has particular importance. 

For this reason, in 2017 it created its Academy, with which it provides courses that have trained more than 100,000 users over the last three years.

The online modules – which form the basis of training in the use of UR cobots – are nine and available in 16 different languages. All modules are completely free. The leftover courses (not free), on the other hand, are held at the 51 official training centres around the world. Universal Robots’ content program is also full of webinars delivered monthly.

At this address it is possible to consult the calendar of classroom courses:

https://academy.universal-robots.com/in-class-training/ 

The NewMetro project as well is encompassing the ideation and generation of a series of multi-modal training modules, to be tested and validated in five Countries and then made available to EU educational institution and students.

Source: https://www.meccanicanews.com/2020/09/01/universal-robot-academy-scuola-cobot/ 

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mechatronics, robotics

CIS launches two new courses in mechatronics

On Monday 21 September in Reggio Emilia (Italy) CIS, Unindustria Reggio Emilia’s service company for business management, presented two innovative post-diploma courses that promise to form some of the most popular job profiles on the market.

In detail, the courses are “product technician in the system of plastics processing” and “plant installation and maintenance technician 4.0”.

The first has the objective of preparing students to work in the production sectors of the plastics industries; the second aims to train resources able to organize the installation and maintenance service of robotic plants and systems by applying industrial automation concepts based on the 4.0 model. Both training courses have 20 seats and have been designed in collaboration with important companies in the area.

The program of these training activities includes classroom theory, workshops, company testimonials, guided tours, internships and a final exam. The courses are completely free thanks to the Emilia-Romagna Region funds, and the candidates will be selected through a technical-scientific aptitude test and an individual motivational interview.

The presentation event on Sept 21st saw the presence of Filippo Di Gregorio, General Manager of Unindustria, Alberto Rocchi, President of the Mechatronics Club, Marco Bedogni, President of the Gomma Plastiche Group, as well as former students who told about their experience with these courses.

CIS is a full Partner of the New Metro project on Mechatronics co-financed by the European Union.

source: https://nextstopreggio.it/presentati-i-corsi-post-diploma-di-cis-due-indirizzi-innovativi-meccatronica-4-0-e-materie-plastiche/

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mechatronics, Industry 4.0

Problem solving: a key skill in Industry 4.0.

In industry 4.0, knowing how to identify an anomaly quickly is very important, because it allows to intervene promptly and, if necessary, to shut down the line, with obvious economic savings. Knowing how to do this depends on three factors: essential mechanical and electromechanical preparation; an in-depth practical experience; a systemic mentality aimed at methodically analysing phenomena and identifying the causes.

Obviously, in some cases, the intervention requires an immediate – even if temporary – solution (quick-fix), to speed up the resumption of a production process, or to limit any damage to machinery and people. This kind of interventions requires high professionalism, ability to quickly analyse the situation and resistance to stress. Experience also helps in troubleshooting because it allows to find solutions to a problem that was already experienced. Nonetheless excessive trust in experience could reduce the ability to see beyond and completely understand a phenomenon.

In general, however, continuous staff updating on how to identify and repair faults, both provisional and definitive, also through the simulation of real cases, constitute the most effective form of training.

New Metro is including in its aims not only state-of-the-art education of student of technical schools but also re-skilling and updated training of workers, together with Work-based-learning and On-the-job-training, to be carried out alternatively live and through virtual mobility.

 

Source: https://www.meccanicanews.com/2020/10/02/il-problem-solving-nellindustria-4-0/

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