Testbed for Industry 4.0 at CIIRC CTU – part of RICAIP Testbed Core
Testbed for Industry 4.0 at CIIRC CTU is an open unique research and experimental workplace, the largest of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe.
As an integral part of the RICAIP Centre of Excellence, it serves for the development and testing of innovative solutions for advanced and fully integrated industrial production and processes for smart factories. It has been built thanks to a significant investment of EU and Czech funds.
Research Infrastructure of European Importance
Testbed offers a real environment for research at the European level, but it also offers solutions or research services designed directly for Czech companies: manufacturing companies or technological developers.
This infrastructure makes it possible to cover the entire innovation cycle, from the validation of purely scientific theories and new experiments to the transfer of technologies and practices to industry.
Testbed combines various technologies such as additive manufacturing, machining, robotic handling, intelligent transport systems, human-robot collaboration, automated warehousing and more. Thanks to the flexible connection of universal production tools and a sophisticated control system, the same resources can be used to perform various operations that are optimally planned as needed.
On an area of 1,700 square meters, there are almost 40 robots of latest various types, including collaborative and mobile, 3D printers, machine tools, a full-fledged 5G campus network and completely unique machines for additive production by applying a variety of materials. The devices are connected by software and data using server and cloud applications using AI algorithms. Testbed enables to experiment with available devices or connect new devices. It is based on a multi-agent platform for distributed manufacturing systems and it is capable to be extended to other lines and testbeds, utilizing the common data, digital, and security platform layers.
The Prague testbed lays on two floors of the CIIRC CTU. The ground floor laboratory focuses on automatic assembly, planning and virtualization of production. The basement part is focused on production machines & technologies. That is where joint research of CIIRC CTU and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering CTU takes place and allows for unique educational conditions. The Testbed is used for research, development, teaching and collaboration with industrial partners. It allows testing solutions for advanced and integrated industrial production and processes for intelligent factories. Prague testbed is involved in several international research projects, mostly in the field of Industry 4.0. The testbed allows optimization of energy efficiency of production systems, diagnostics and predictive maintenance or data mining within the product life cycle.
