A practical approach to teaching industry 4.0 technologies

Abstract

The School of Engineering Practice Technology (SEPT) at McMaster University is making a deliberate effort to train the next generation of engineers that are ready to work in Industry 4.0 environment. Under this effort we have developed equipment for teaching the technologies that support Industry 4.0, and this paper presents two sets of such equipment. The first set is used to teach machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, while the second is used to teach system control and automation data access. The accessed data is used in a multiplicity of students’ projects, including but not limited to SCADA systems, system simulation and control using fuzzy logic and artificial neural network, cloud based systems, and data analytics. In addition, this paper describes how the equipment is utilized to support graduate and undergraduate teaching through the experiential learning paradigm of laboratory based projects. The paper also presents example student projects that have been carried out using our equipment.