Smart Products, Engineering and Services. An example of modern engineering education

Abstract

As digitization and Industry 4.0 progress, the need for smart products and innovative business models increases. This contribution presents the underlying novel concept of the collaborative course “Smart Products, Engineering and Services”. The objective is to enable students of mechanical engineering to develop and work with smart products, and to derive possible business models for their use. A combination of traditional lectures, flipped classroom exercises and a development project characterizes the unique character of the course. The presented topics range from the basics of sensing machine elements, intelligent mechatronic systems and the use of artificial intelligence in the latter. Further, it comprises product development methods such as agile development, V&V methods and the usage of rapid manufacturing technologies. The flipped classroom exercises serve as preparation for the project work and allow students to gain practical experience with additive manufacturing processes as well as cyber-physical systems. As part of the project work, students develop a smart product which must complete the control task of balancing a body on vertically excited surface by minimizing the bodies movement. For this purpose, the kinematics, the controller, and the usage of a force-measuring ball bearing as a sensing machine element are predetermined. Missing components must be designed and manufactured in a Makerspace using 3D printing or laser cutting and the developed controller must be implemented. The smart product is finally tested on a specially developed test rig.