On March 20 and 21, the National Industry 4.0 Center in cooperation with Škoda Auto and the Technological Literacy platform welcomed more than 280 primary and secondary school students as part of an educational event about modern technologies. The goal of this collaboration was to introduce new technologies to young people in an engaging way and show them in practice. Part of the program was a guided tour of the RICAIP Testbed for Industry 4.0 at CIIRC CTU in Prague.
Electromobility, artificial intelligence, 5G networks, the Internet of Things or cyber security: these are the topics we addressed as part of the program to increase the technological literacy of secondary and elementary school students. The lecture module, which was prepared by the Technological Literacy platform specifically for pupils and students, presents technologies that move the world. In funny, clear and practical way.
„Raising the level of technical education and motivating students to study technical fields is one of Škoda Auto’s key educational activities. For several years now, we have also been the general partner of the Technological Literacy projects, which we have now decided to connect with activities at the National Center for Industry 4.0. Our goal is to show pupils and students the latest technologies in real life, not only in the form of lectures, but also through practical examples,“ emphasizes Jana Polášek Filová, expert coordinator of digitization and innovation at Škoda Auto.
„If we want to get young people excited about studying technology, we have to be able to present it to them as a modern and promising field. In the Testbed for Industry 4.0, students could also familiarize themselves with projects created by students, for example, as part of their bachelor’s theses. For example, with a robotic checkers that works on the principles of artificial intelligence, or with a robotic coffee machine,“ explains Robert Keil, director of the National Center for Industry 4.0.
„Cooperation with the National Center for Industry 4.0 is a great opportunity for us to connect academia and practice, to introduce pupils and students to new technologies. Thanks to the involvement of RICAIP’s Testbed for Industry 4.0, we are one step closer to practice, students could see, try and literally touch everything,“ says Tadeáš Salaba from the Technological Literacy project.
The partners of the National Center for Industry 4.0 are industrial companies that are well aware of the importance of students‘ interest in technology. For this reason, the center’s main partner Škoda Auto has been supporting the technological literacy project for a long time.
As part of the tour of the RICAIP Testbed for Industry 4.0, which takes 1,640 m2 on two floors of the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics of the Czech Technical University and which lower so called „heavy“ testbed belongs to Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the student could see for example the Delta robot with a conveyor equipped with a 5G communication module to ensure safety and control functions that uses artificial intelligence algorithms for image processing, or a metrology laboratory fully equipped for optical and tactile measurements. Or the Interactive Collaborative Robotic Assembly Workstation where you can create an interactive robotic workstation with collaborative robots that are able to assemble the Tower of Hanoi using a camera or play board games.
Testbed is a research and experimental environment where various technologies such as additive manufacturing, machining, robotic handling, intelligent transport systems, human-robot collaboration, automated storage and more are combined. A key aspect of Testbed is the existence of a so-called digital twin, which can be understood as a virtual model of the product, the production process and the entire production equipment connected through a series of sensors in real time with the physical world in the cyber-physical space.
The educational event was prepared for two days. The first day belonged to secondary school students in the form of a morning and afternoon block, where each block was intended for three schools. The same thing awaited elementary school students the next day. Due to the great success of teachers and students and the interest of other schools, we are planning another round to také place in the fall.
More info about the event can be found HERE.
A virtual tour of part of the Testbed (Faculty of mechanical Engineering) can be seen HERE.
More info about the Testbed for Industry 4.0 can be found HERE.
Photos: source CTU in Prague
