tiphys an open networked platform for higher education on industry 4 0

Abstract Objective of Tiphys project is building an Open Networked Platform for the learning of Industry 4.0 themes. The project will create a Virtual Reality (VR) platform, where users will be able to design and create a VR based environment for training and simulating industrial processes but they will be able to study and select among a set of models in order to standardize the learning and physical processes as a virtual representation of the real industrial world and the required interactions so that to acquire learning and training capabilities. The models will be structured in a modular approach to promote the integration in the existing mechanisms as well as for future necessary adaptations. The students will be able to co-create their learning track and the learning contents by collaborative working in a dynamic environment. The paper presents the development and validation of the learning model, built on CONALI learning ontology. The concepts of the ontology will be detailed and the platform functions will be demonstrated on selected use cases

Metaverso hiperconectado para la formación de operarios en la industria 5.0

52 p.[ES] La transformación digital está revolucionando la industria manufacturera, fomentando una convergencia entre los mundos físico y virtual a través de los sistemas ciberfísicos (CPS). Estos sistemas, equipados con sensores, actuadores, inteligencia y conectividad, forjan un entorno de colaboración crucial. Sin embargo, superar los retos tecnológicos inherentes a la fusión de diversas tecnologías asociadas a la fabricación inteligente es fundamental para lograr la virtualización industrial. Este cambio digital ha abierto nuevas perspectivas para la simulación de procesos y la formación de operarios, elevando la eficiencia y la colaboración en los entornos industriales. El desarrollo de estas aplicaciones requiere virtualizar los CPS, lo que exige modelar su comportamiento mediante la comprensión de sus respuestas a estímulos reales en el entorno físico. Así, la virtualización se extiende más allá de los CPS para abarcar sus entornos físicos dinámicos, creando un entorno de simulación denominado Digital Twins (DTs). Estos DTs pueden recrear numerosos escenarios e hipótesis que replican el comportamiento real de los sistemas de forma virtual permitiendo el análisis de diferentes condiciones operativas en el mundo virtual. En este sentido, los DTs encuentran relevancia en contextos como el transporte industrial inteligente, donde el entorno juega un papel fundamental a la hora de guiar la navegación de los Robots Móviles Autónomos (AMRs). Por esta razón, en el capítulo 5, se desarrolló un DT para comparar tiempos y trayectorias entre un vehículo autónomo virtual y uno real, obteniendo una alta similitud. La implementación de DTs en el transporte industrial mejora la toma de decisiones para la optimización de procesos clave críticos para el rendimiento global de la planta industrial. Además, este entorno virtualizado incorpora posteriormente una flota de AMR para analizar su comportamiento en entornos industriales reales. Esto permite comprender la respuesta de cada AMR de la flota utilizando diferentes algoritmos de navegación dentro de un entorno virtualizado dinámico. En particular, el capítulo 6 analiza los algoritmos de navegación Timed Elastic Band (BET) y Dynamic Window Approach (DWA). Además, para facilitar la comprensión de las simulaciones realizadas, se ideó una interfaz para modificar dinámicamente los parámetros y visualizar los datos de simulación en tiempo real. Sin embargo, los valiosos conocimientos del DT no se integran a la perfección dentro de los capítulos 5 y 6 en el entorno colaborativo de los procesos productivos, según el paradigma de la Fabricación Inteligente (Smart Manufacturing, SM). Por ello, la transmisión de datos de DT y otros activos externos a las arquitecturas industriales y protocolos de comunicaciones exigió el desarrollo de una pasarela de interoperabilidad. Esta pasarela analiza las comunicaciones de los activos, adaptándolas a las necesidades de hardware y software de destino, logrando lo que en esta tesis se define como hiperconectividad entre activos heterogéneos. Esto se aplica específicamente al entorno colaborativo industrial propuesto en el capítulo 4. Este entorno hiperconectado facilita la convergencia de diversas tecnologías industriales en su interior para aplicaciones polivalentes. Por ejemplo, la integración de las DT con la Realidad Virtual (RV) ofrece una percepción más inmersiva de la virtualización de los procesos industriales, tendiendo puentes no sólo tecnológicos sino también humanos a través de experiencias inmersivas. Esto facilita el desarrollo de numerosas aplicaciones industriales, incluyendo la formación de operarios para mitigar costes y riesgos en entornos reales, tal y como se estudia en el capítulo 7. En este sentido, se demuestra que los humanos pueden aprender a manejar máquinas industriales en un entorno virtual casi con la misma eficacia que en el mundo real. Sin embargo, la generación de un ecosistema virtual que replique completamente el entorno real no sólo implica las relaciones entre humanos y máquinas, sino también entre humanos. Así, incluir a otro humano en este entorno virtual permite interacciones y colaboraciones más realistas, creando un espacio totalmente virtual, el metaverso industrial. Así, finalmente, el capítulo 8 evalúa el rendimiento y la satisfacción del usuario comparando entornos reales y virtuales en actividades colaborativas que involucran a dos humanos y un AMR, mostrando una dirección de investigación novedosa que ayuda a desarrollar completamente los principios de la próxima revolución industrial, la Industria 5.0. Por estas razones, esta tesis explora especialmente la virtualización de activos industriales, superando las barreras tecnológicas para desarrollar aplicaciones hiperconectadas dentro del paradigma de la Industria 5.0, situando a los humanos al frente de la fábrica del futuro.[EN] The digital transformation is revolutionizing the manufacturing industry, fostering a convergence between physical and virtual realms through Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). These systems, equipped with sensors, actuators, intelligence, and connectivity, forge a crucial collaborative environment. Yet, overcoming technological challenges inherent in the merging of diverse Smart Manufacturing-associated technologies is pivotal to attaining industrial virtualization. This digital shift has opened novel perspectives for process simulation and operator training, elevating efficiency and collaboration in industrial landscapes. Developing these applications requires virtualizing the CPSs, requiring modeling their behavior by understanding their responses to real stimuli in the physical environment. Thus, the virtualization extends beyond CPSs to encompass their dynamic physical settings, creating a simulation environment denominated as Digital Twins (DTs). These DTs can recreate numerous scenarios and hypotheses that replicate the real behavior of the systems in a virtual way allowing the analysis of different operational conditions in the virtual world. In this sense, DTs find relevance in contexts like intelligent industrial transportation, where the environment plays a pivotal role in guiding Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) navigation. For this reason, in Chapter 5, a DT was developed to compare times and trajectories between a virtual and a real autonomous vehicle, yielding high similarity. Implementing DTs in industrial transportation enhances decision-making for optimizing key processes critical for the overall performance of the industrial plant. Moreover, this virtualized environment later incorporates an AMR fleet to scrutinize their behavior under real industrial settings. This allows the understanding of the response of each AMR of the fleet using different navigation algorithms within a dynamic virtualized environment. Particularly, Chapter 6 analyzes the Timed Elastic Band (BET) and Dynamic Window Approach (DWA) navigation algorithms. Additionally, to facilitate the comprehension of the simulations performed, an interface was devised to dynamically modify parameters and visualize real-time simulation data. However, valuable DT insights aren’t seamlessly integrated within Chapters 5 and 6 into the collaborative environment of productive processes, as per the Smart Manufacturing (SM) paradigm. Hence, transmitting DT and other external assets data to industrial architectures and communications protocols demanded the development of an interoperability gateway. This gateway analyzes assets’ communications, tailoring them to destination hardware and software needs achieving what is defined in this dissertation as the hyperconnectivity among heterogeneous assets. This specifically applies to the industrial collaborative environment proposed in Chapter 4. This hyperconnected environment facilitates the convergence of diverse industrial technologies within it for multifaceted applications. For instance, integrating DTs with Virtual Reality (VR) offers a more immersive perception of industrial process virtualization, bridging not only technological but also human assets through immersive experiences. This facilitates the development of numerous industrial applications, including operator training to mitigate costs and risks in real environments, as studied in Chapter 7. In this sense, it is demonstrated that humans can learn to handle industrial machines in a virtual environment nearly as effectively as they do in the real world. However, the generation of a virtual ecosystem that completely replicates the real environment not only entails the relations between humans and machines but also among humans. Thus, including another human in this virtual environment enables more realistic interactions and collaboration, creating a fully virtual space, the industrial metaverse. Thus, finally, Chapter 8 evaluates performance and user satisfaction by comparing real and virtual environments in collaborative activities involving two humans and an AMR, showing a novel research direction that helps to completely develop the principles of the next industrial revolution, Industry 5.0. For these reasons, this dissertation particularly explores the virtualization of industrial assets, overcoming technological barriers to develop hyperconnected applications within the Industry 5.0 paradigm, placing humans at the forefront of the factory of the future

Virtual Environments for Training: From Individual Learning to Collaboration with Humanoids

The next generation of virtual environments for training is oriented towards collaborative aspects. Therefore, we have decided to enhance our platform for virtual training environments, adding collaboration opportunities and integrating humanoids. In this paper we put forward a model of humanoid that suits both virtual humans and representations of real users, according to collaborative training activities. We suggest adaptations to the scenario model of our platform making it possible to write collaborative procedures. We introduce a mechanism of action selection made up of a global repartition and an individual choice. These models are currently being integrated and validated in GVT, a virtual training tool for maintenance of military equipments, developed in collaboration with the French company NEXTER-Group

A virtual reality environment for training operators for assembly tasks involving human-cobot interactions

The introduction of collaborative robots in the industry requires new training methods. Users without experience in collaborative tasks with robots present insecurity at the beginning, reducing their productivity until they become familiar with this type of process. To address this problem the training method must take place in an environment where the user feels comfortable working with the cobot to overcome the insecurities. This thesis aims at defining a training method for users to get used to working with collaborative robots. The method covers every kind of robot and task. In addition, this research looks for a training that takes place outside the production line so as not to affect the productivity of the plant. The document presents the background of training methods in the industry and new trends in this field such as virtual reality and the evolution of interactions with robots. A patent landscape is included to evaluate the current situation in the investigation and development of these fields. This thesis work proposes an interactive and immersive virtual reality training based on WebGL. It consists on a simulation where the operator interacts in real time with a cobot executing a collaborative task. By using WebGL you can access the simulation directly from the browser and without restrictions in the virtual reality equipment. The scenario presents the assembly of a box in collaboration with the YuMi cobot of ABB. The tools, models and techniques used for the implementation are described. Taking advantage of the properties of virtual reality to facilitate the learning of the task, the simulation offers a user assistance system that is explained in detail. This method has been tested in a group of student engineers who performed the simulation in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this proposal to help operators in their learning of collaborative tasks. The results show a greater acceptance and confidence of the users to perform the task with the cobot after the simulation while they learnt the entire process of the task. It is concluded therefore with this thesis that the proposed method is valid for user training in collaborative tasks. It is hoped that this work will serve as a basis for future research in the incorporation of WebGL and virtual reality in the training of industrial processes

Modified Stage-Gate: A Conceptual Model of Virtual Product Development Process

In today s dynamic marketplace, manufacturing companies are under strong pressure to introduce new products for long-term survival with their competitors. Nevertheless, every company cannot cope up progressively or immediately with the market requirements due to knowledge dynamics being experienced in the competitive milieu. Increased competition and reduced product life cycles put force upon companies to develop new products faster. In response to these pressing needs, there should be some new approach compatible in flexible circumstances. This paper presents a solution based on the popular Stage-Gate system, which is closely linked with virtual team approach. Virtual teams can provide a platform to advance the knowledge-base in a company and thus to reduce time-to-market. This article introduces conceptual product development architecture under a virtual team umbrella. The paper describes all the major aspects of new product development (NPD), NPD process and its relationship with virtual teams, Stage-Gate system finally presents a modified Stage-Gate system to cope up with the changing needs. It also provides the guidelines for the successful implementation of virtual teams in new product development.Comment: 24 page

SMEs: ERP or virtual collaboration teams

Small firms are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role to promote economic development. SMEs in the beginning of implementing new technologies always face capital shortage and need technological assistance. Available ERP systems do not fulfil the specific requirements of Small firms. SMEs has scarce resources and manpower therefore many SMEs don?t have the possessions to buy and operate an ERP System. On the other hand competition and competitiveness of SMEs have to be strengthened. This paper briefly reviews the existing perspectives on virtual teams and their effect on SMEs management. It also discusses the main characteristics of virtual teams and clarifies the differences aspects of virtual team application in SMEs. After outlining some of the main advantages and pitfall of such teams, it concentrates on comparing of ERP and virtual collaborative teams in SMEs. Finally, it provides evidence for the need of ?Software as a Service (SaaS)? where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the web for SMEs as an alternative of ERP. It has been widely argued that ERP disadvantage in SMEs such as administrative expenditure and cost, isolated structure, severe lack of software flexibility, insufficient support of SMEs business and high operating cost, lead SMEs to use virtual collaborative team which is net work base solution

SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Their continued growth is a major subject for the economy and employment of any country. Towards that end, virtual research and development (R&D) could be a viable option to sustain and ease the operations of SMEs. However, literature shows there has not been a great deal of research into the diverse characteristic of virtual R&D teams in SMEs. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R&D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the literature review is to provide an outline on the structure and dynamics of R&D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the rationale and relevance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R&D team for SMEs and new product development (NPD) has been examined. It concludes with identifying the gaps and feebleness in the existing literature and calls for future research in this area. It is argued to form of virtual R&D team deserves consideration at top level management for venturing into the new product development within SMEs

Virtual R&D teams in small and medium enterprises: a literature review

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving engine behind economic growth. While SMEs play a critical role in generating employment and supporting trade, they face numerous challenges, the prominent among them are the need to respond to fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Towards that end, research and development (R & D) aspect deserves particular attention to promote and facilitate the operations of SMEs. Virtual R & D team could be a viable option. However, literature shows that virtual R & D teaming in SMEs is still at its infancy. This article provides a comprehensive literature review on different aspects of virtual R & D teams collected from the reputed publications. The purpose of the state-of-the-art literature review is to provide an overview on the structure and dynamics of R & D collaboration in SMEs. Specifying the foundation and importance of virtual teams, the relationship between virtual R & D team and SMEs has been examined. It concludes with the identification of the gaps in the existing literature's and calls for future research. It is argued that setting-up an infrastructure for virtual R & D team in SMEs still requires a large amount of engineering efforts and deserves consideration at top level management

The use of Virtual Reality in Enhancing Interdisciplinary Research and Education

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly being recognized for its educational potential and as an effective way to convey new knowledge to people, it supports interactive and collaborative activities. Affordable VR powered by mobile technologies is opening a new world of opportunities that can transform the ways in which we learn and engage with others. This paper reports our study regarding the application of VR in stimulating interdisciplinary communication. It investigates the promises of VR in interdisciplinary education and research. The main contributions of this study are (i) literature review of theories of learning underlying the justification of the use of VR systems in education, (ii) taxonomy of the various types and implementations of VR systems and their application in supporting education and research (iii) evaluation of educational applications of VR from a broad range of disciplines, (iv) investigation of how the learning process and learning outcomes are affected by VR systems, and (v) comparative analysis of VR and traditional methods of teaching in terms of quality of learning. This study seeks to inspire and inform interdisciplinary researchers and learners about the ways in which VR might support them and also VR software developers to push the limits of their craft.Comment: 6 Page