Description of the cooperation project

Bucharest-based ”Agenţia Naţională pentru Programe Comunitare în Domeniul Educaţiei şi Formării Profesionale” (ANPCDEFP), which undertook to manage the European Economic Area Fund (EEA Fund - a support fund set up by Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland in Romania) in Romania, released a program in December 2018 for Mobility Projects in Higher Education. The aim of the application is to support the international mobility of students, enabling them to gain educational, linguistic, professional and cultural experience in foreign higher education institutions within the European Economic Area. The Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences from Târgu-Mureş, University of Sapientia from Cluj-Napoca, applied successfully and won the mobility project valuing 96.798 EUR, registered under contract No. 21-COP-0027. 

Proect promoter:
Universitatea Sapientia din Cluj-Napoca
Cod Id Erasmus: RO CLUJNAP07

Partners:
University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway | UiT -Narvik Kamusz
Cod Id Erasmus: N TROMSO01

 INNO ROBOTICS SRL, Cluj Napoca

Projekt summary
Nowadays not only the big companies, but also the SME's are in race for automation. The short commissioning time of the production systems needs valuable
knowledge from the workforce even from the first day after their graduation. This goal can be achieved by implementing interactive and practical activities during the
study period. In this context the students enrolled in the "Advanced mechatronic systems" MSc study at the Sapientia University will learn about Virtual Commissioning.
In the context of "Virtual Manufacturing" lecture, the same idea stands behind the "Industrial Engineering" MSc study at the University of Tromsø, Campus Narvik. The
graduated MSc students at the two universities, who will study the offered lectures and practical exercises, will carry a knowledge about virtual production systems,
which is missing today in the Romanian curricula. That for they will have a positive impact on the future workplaces regarding the time-to-market of the goods because of
shorter commissioning time in the case of production systems. The implementation of the practical exercises through a Learning Factory concept can be considered
innovative in Romania. The students will design, develop the factory floor for different requirements, using modular building systems, including sensors and actuators,
which will be controlled through PLC systems. All this will be realized in the virtual environment using different software, enabling the 3D depiction of the factory floor,
with possibilities to use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Using this Learning Factory approach (with virtual manufacturing using different process setup)
the students will observe the quality and time regarded differences and the benefits of the simulations. To allow the presented approach, the output of the project will be
the curricula for the practical part of "Virtual Commissioning" lecture (Universitatea Sapientia din Cluj-Napoca) and "Virtual manufacturing" lecture (University of Tromsø)
consisting of 28 hours laboratory work. In parallel of the joint developed laboratory work, the lecture content of the two mentioned course of study will be harmonized as
well to assure the theoretical knowledge at the two cooperating institute.
The students will acquire information about the use of the 3D modelling and simulation software environment, how to model smart components, how to use the
connectivity feature which connect 3D simulations with control system using the industry standard OPC UA, etc. Afterward, using different requirements, different
Learning Factory setups should be realized in the simulation environment controlled by simulated and real PLC programs. As the last step, the students must design
automatized cells using models of real equipment, and simulate/control them as earlier presented. Because the modeled real cells are already running somewhere in the
industry, the simulation results can be compared to the measured parameters of the real cells. Based on this analysis the quality and accuracy of the virtual
commissioned cells can be evaluated and improved by students.
The resulting educational methodology will provide the continuous quality in the educational process and the permanent relevance of the practical training. The
University of Tromsø, Department of Industrial Engineering has an impressive experience regarding the teaching and practical implementation of robotized production.
Those experiences provide a genuine guidance for the Romanian partners in the terms of virtual manufacturing.

Expected results
The output of the project will be the curricula for the "Virtual Commissioning" lecture (Universitatea Sapientia din Cluj-Napoca) and "Virtual manufacturing" lecture
(University of Tromsø) consisting of 28 hours lecture time and 28 hours laboratory work, including all the digital assets which are needed to complete the laboratory
works. The topics will be divided into three main chapters. The themes covered by the chapters are presented below.
1) Introduction to the 3D modelling and simulation (4 hours): The students will acquire information about the use of the 3D modelling and simulation software
environment, the possibility to model smart components to simulate in 3D world, the use of connectivity feature which connect simulations with control system using the
industry standard OPC UA, etc.
2) Design, simulation and commissioning of Learning Factory (14 hours): Using different requirements, different setups will be realized in the simulation environment.
Next, the real PLC programs will be implemented to control the simulated Learning Factory model.
3) Design and simulation of real automated production cells (10 hours): Based on well-defined requirements, the students must design automatized cells using models of real equipment. After completion, the control algorithms must be implemented as well, in order to simulate the virtual cells. Because the real cells are already running somewhere in the industry, the simulation results can be compared to the measured parameters of the real cells. Based on this analysis the quality and accuracy of the virtual commissioned cells can be evaluated and improved by students.

Project impact
The main goal of the cooperation project is the knowledge transfer to the new generation of MSc students. By applying the innovative curricula will strengthen the
relation between the academia and the work environment by correlation of the real industrial needs and practical examples from the learning process in both of DS and BS.
The project outcome will have positive influence on the project partners:
1) Universitatea Sapientia din Cluj-Napoca will gain new insight in a methodology of a modern and indispensable process of virtual manufacturing and commissioning.
Applying the curricula will assure the up to date knowledge of the academic staff dealing with the educational process of the MSc students. Hence the MSc students will
acquire knowledge, which will strengthen the already gained information regarding different disciplines dealing with automation, production and robotics, and will give the
opportunity to apply the synergistic effect in the frame of the new method. After graduation this will allow them a better placement on the labor market.
2) Through their experience in the field of the project, University of Tromsø means the main knowledge support for the project. Nevertheless, the outcomes of the project
will have a positive influence on the educational process at this institute also, by applying the curricula in the frame of "Virtual Manufacturing" MSc lecture. The new tools
and examples introduced in the educational process will imply up to date information and method at the DS university also.
3) The INNORobotics SRL, through their virtual production system designs, will provide real life experiences to the learning process. It could be an indirect beneficiary of
the project outcome because of the possibility of hiring new workforce after MSc graduation of the students, which are ready to implement the acquired knowledge on
the field of virtual commissioning. Based on this idea, other companies, from regional industry, will be an indirect beneficiary as well. In accordance of the interest
showed up by the companies at the multiplier event (M1), it is possible to offer this lecture for virtual commissioning to the employees outside the partner institutions,
implementing it as a training program as a service in Romania and Norway.
Nevertheless, the common curricula in the MSc studies at the Universitatea Sapientia din Cluj-Napoca and University of Tromsø will lead to an increased possibility to
exchange students and academic staff through future mobility programs.