Education in Industrial Automation in an Innovative Learning Factory

Education courses on automation usually address the development of a control system considering only simplified theoretical frameworks and using nominal simulations in order to verify the correctness of the developed control solution. This approach contrasts with industrial practice where automation systems are usually developed on the basis of the engineers experience and directly tested on the real industrial plants, without any verification step among design and implementation phases, generating high commissioning times and costs. To bridge the gap between such approaches, a dedicated mechatronic laboratory integrated into an innovative RTDI factory has been set up by ITIA-CNR. Such infrastructure is strongly exploited for technologyenhanced learning of industrial engineers that may get confident at the same time with different automation methods and tools as for models, algorithms, simulations, devices, instruments and communication networks. Clear benefits have been experienced through the training of both students and industrial technical workers during master and life long learning activities.