Living Labs
Smart Factory
Smart Factory is a comprehensive platform built in accordance with the principles of the Industry 4.0 concept. It is a space for the interaction and cooperation of the academic sphere with industrial partners, built at VSB-TUO within the project “Platform of new technologies FEI CPIT TL3”.
Industry
Services & Equipment
The lab integrates advanced robotics, digital twin technologies, machine vision, and mobile automation for smart industrial applications. It supports simulation, optimization, and real-world testing of modern production and logistics systems.
Our cooperation includes:
Digital Twin
Creation of comprehensive virtual models of production lines and workplaces. Virtual commissioning enables testing and optimization before physical deployment, reducing costs and time to market.
Typical use cases
- Complete virtual model of the assembly line
- Virtual commissioning of production lines
- Simulation and optimization before physical deployment
Software: NX · NX MCD · Tecnomatix Process Simulate · Visual Components · Teamcenter · ema Software Suite
Industrial Robotics & Predictive Maintenance
Industrial and collaborative robots in various configurations: assembly, disassembly, precise measurement, bin picking and educational robotic cells. A comprehensive system for collecting process and diagnostic data supports predictive maintenance through vibration analysis, thermal imaging and other condition monitoring methods.
Typical use cases
- Typical and special robotic tasks such as precise measurement and bin picking
- Collection of process and diagnostic data
- Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance
Machine Vision & AI Quality Inspection
2D and 3D camera systems for quality inspection, object recognition and robotic guidance. We implement deep learning for quality inspection and computer vision for robotic guidance and bin picking.
Typical use cases
- Deep learning quality inspection
- Object recognition
- Robotic guidance and bin picking with a 3D scanner
Mobile & Humanoid Robotics
Mobile industrial robots transport finished products within the Smart Factory and move autonomously throughout the laboratory. The laboratory also operates a humanoid robot for research and testing of humanoid robots in industrial environments.
Typical use cases
- Demonstration and testing in various applications
- Mobile manipulation with a UR5e cobot
- Feasibility studies for deploying humanoid robots in industry
VR, AR & Private 5G Network
Smart Factory can be discovered and controlled using virtual reality through different variants of its digital twin. Augmented reality supports maintenance and a private 5G network enables low latency industrial communication.
Typical use cases
- Immersive exploration of digital twins
- Augmented reality for maintenance support
- Testing of industrial communication over a private 5G network
Industrial Control Systems & IoT
Design of distributed control systems for industrial processes, from single-machine control to full production lines. We also design IoT nodes and edge devices for industrial environments including harsh conditions.
Typical use cases
- PLC, HMI and SCADA design and implementation
- Integration of Siemens, B&R and Bosch Rexroth platforms
- IoT nodes, sensor networks and edge computing
Equipment & facilities
Industrial and collaborative robots
16 industrial and collaborative robotic arms used for assembly, disassembly, precise measurement, bin picking and educational robotic cells (11× KUKA, 2× Mitsubishi Electric, 1× ABB, 1× FANUC, 1× Universal Robots).
Humanoid robot
Unitree G1 EDU (U6) humanoid robot with 41 degrees of freedom and Inspire RH56 five-finger dexterous hands with tactile sensing. Used for research into dexterous manipulation, imitation learning and robots working in spaces designed for people.
Ergonomic workstation
Height adjustable assembly workstation with an ABB GoFa collaborative robot for research into ergonomics and human factors in manual and collaborative assembly. The ema Software Suite is used to simulate the physical load on the operator and to evaluate the ergonomics of work tasks.
MiR autonomous mobile robots
Five autonomous mobile robots capable of independent navigation throughout the laboratory for mobile intralogistics scenarios: 2× MiR 100, MiR 250, MiR 500 and a MiR 250 mobile manipulator carrying a UR5e collaborative robot.
Beckhoff XPlanar
Planar motor system with magnetically levitating movers for contactless, flexible product transport and positioning. A building block for adaptive production lines.
Basler and Photoneo vision systems
Includes Photoneo 3D scanner for bin picking and machine vision applications, and Basler 2D cameras for inspection.
Immersive VR / AR / 5G platform
Supports digital twin exploration, maintenance support and industrial communication experiments (HTC Vive, Diota AR, private 5G network).
Projects
AEM-EC – Reduced Production Costs
AI-MATTERS – AI Manufacturing Testing and Experimentation Network for European Industries
Automated System for Calibrating End Gauges
Data Acquisition System for Predictive Diagnostics Using Industrial 5G Network
TOP Publications
