Virtual Mechatronic Laboratory Erasmus Project

Project Title

Virtual Mechatronic Laboratory

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The expectations of the European market in relation to universities are expressed in qualified, competent and skilled graduates. Qualified employees should have a thorough education, knowledge, practice and experience in a particular field. They are required to solve unexpected tasks that involve intricate and unforeseen operations which require to use knowledge in practice. Graduates prepared for such situations will affect economic growth and prosperity of European market.

According to Operational Programme Human Capital study, nearly 80% of employers reported problems with finding qualified workers in 2014. This correlates with results of surveys conducted by Career Office of Lodz University of Technology, which show that over 50% of mechatronics graduates feel unprepared for their professional work. Moreover the surveys show a high demand for practical exercises, which the university is unable to provide due to limited resources in both staff and equipment.

In recent years mechatronics joined the list of demanded study programmes. It is a multidisciplinary science that includes a combination of electronics and engineering in fields such as mechanics, computer, telecommunications, and systems. Many students have problems with understanding issues connected to above mentioned disciplines due to the complexity, necessity of abstract thinking and the fact that those concepts are not fully tangible. Deficiencies in fundamentals prevent further development and exploration of more complicated problems.

In their daily practice, academics frequently face lack of access to modern equipment and devices, which are currently in use on the market. There is no opportunity to disassemble available devices for the purposes of presenting the components and construction as well as clarifying related physical phenomena. Laboratory exercises must be carried out under supervision, hence students do not have the ability to self-configure the equipment, experience states of emergency or effects of misconfiguration which may lead to equipment damage. Moreover, there is no possibility to practice and catch up outside the laboratory schedule.

The above mentioned factors manifest in deficiencies in fundamental knowledge and practice of graduates, which cause inability to properly react to the challenges at future workplace. Responding to above mentioned needs, we wanted to enrich study programmes of all partners by implementing an innovative method for teaching and learning mechatronics based on virtual reality (VR). By applying VR laboratory as a part of existing curriculum in the field of mechatronics, we achieved the main goal of this project, which was to improve the quality and efficiency of higher education as well as qualifications, competences and skills of graduates and increase their competitiveness in the labor market.

The proposed project and its outputs involved three crucial target groups: students, academics and business. The project improved following hard competencies of mechatronics graduates:
principles of machine structures;
complex operation principles of advanced mechatronic systems;
real life scenarios in the field of mechatronics;
handling and avoiding states of emergency;
controllers operating;
calibration of physical quantities characterizing the work of mechatronic systems and their components.
The universities and academic staff benefitted from:
-access to simulations of state of the art equipment ,which rarely available or too expensive;
-more accessible laboratories due to reduced need of supervision;
-attractive teaching tool tailored to fit the curriculum;
From the business perspective:
-graduates with higher qualifications;
-less training for new employees;
-possibility to prepare the students for future work (i.e. by providing specific machinery specifications to be put in the VR application).

The consortium consisted of four parties: Lodz University of Technology (the leader), University of Tartu, University of Pavia, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.
The project was organized into two main parts, one related to mechatronics and one related to IT. The mechatronic section focused on topics such as creating simulation scenarios, selecting devices to be transferred into VR, describing device related phenomena, ensuring that the processes presented in the simulation are mathematically and physically accurate. The other section focused on IT related tasks such as creating 3D models for the simulation and creating the VR simulation itself. Both mechatronics and IT sections of the project engaged all partners who were responsible for creating user manuals and instructions.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 270054,52 Eur

Project Coordinator

POLITECHNIKA LODZKA & Country: PL

Project Partners

• Ss. CYRIL AND METHODIUS UNIVERSITY IN SKOPJE
• TARTU ULIKOOL
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PAVIA