Industrial virtual environments and learning process

Abstract

Today, we are in the fourth industrial revolution. In this revolution, we include the Industry 4.0. The connectivity of all the objects, in our life or in the industry with the sensors and the actuators connected on the industrial network, create the Industry 4.0. Other people propose another definition for the Industry 4.0: The simulation of the industry is the new Industry 4.0. They build a virtual factory, with all the sensors, actuators, networks, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC’s), and so on…, they study the simulation with the reaction of the process, refine the system, and after they build the real factory in another part of the world. On the other hand, the disaffection of the students with the engineering studies obliges us to change our way of teaching. It means that we have to adapt the structures of our courses to the new e-native students. Considering this trend, our research team has built a tool for teaching, based on video game technologies, to attract and keep students. This tool is a virtual campus, similar to the real one of our University.