Practical study of Industry 4.0: visit of the KPI delegation to Norway

From November 28 to December 2, 2022, a delegation of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute composed of thirteen teachers, graduate students and students is visiting the Norwegian University of Natural and Technical Sciences (NTNU) in Jovik on an academic visit. Among them there are representatives of the Faculty of Management and Marketing, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, as well as the Faculty of Applied Mathematics – three units whose activities are in some way related to the subject of Industry 4.0. This is the theme of the Ukrainian-Norwegian project, within the framework of which the visit takes place – the project “NTNU-KPI Collaboration within Industry 4.0 Education” (Educational cooperation of the Norwegian University of Natural and Technical Sciences and Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute in the field of Industry 4.0), which has been implemented since 2018 with the support of the Norwegian Agency for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir).

The program of the visit of the KPI delegation to Norway includes many diverse events and activities. Its main point is a practical workshop at the Manufacturing Technology Norwegian Catapult Center (MTNS) “Katapult”, in which the KPI delegation will take part together with NTNU students. The MTNC-“Katapult” center is located in one of the largest industrial parks in Norway, and its activity is aimed at providing Norwegian innovative enterprises with support in the development of prototypes, industrial testing, and modeling and visualization of production processes. Due to its unique technical equipment, the center is in constant demand from industrial clients – however, thanks to the efforts of the organizers, the KPI and NTNU group will have the center at their disposal during the whole day.

In addition to participating in the workshop, during their visit to Norway, KPI representatives will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the principle of operation of “learning factories” on the example of the MANULAB cyber-physical research infrastructure, learn how to use virtual and augmented reality technologies in an industrial environment using RealWear equipment, participate in the analysis of real cases and perform several applied tasks in the field of engineering design and the Internet of Things, join the group discussion on theoretical and practical aspects of Industry 4. 0, as well as present their research projects in the field of Industry 4.0 to Norwegian colleagues and receive expert advice.

It is worth mentioning that the main part of the delegation is made up of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute students who took part in the English-language essay contest “My vision of Industry 4.0” at the beginning of 2022. The competition was held within the framework of the already-mentioned project, and its winners had to visit NTNU in the spring. The full-scale war unleashed by russia against Ukraine changed these plans somewhat, but did not spoil them – and Ukrainian students, albeit with a delay of many months, still got to Norway to dive deeper into the topic of Industry 4.0.