Flexible control and monitoring system design initiative based on Industry 4.0 principles

At the Cyber-Physical & Intelligent Robot Systems Laboratory of the Department of Mechatronics, University of Debrecen, students have access to various industrial robots, devices and sensors. In the laboratory, student projects, practical classes and developments are taking place. As a result, the layout of the manufacturing cell and tool park built around the robots is continuously changing. These tools have different control units, which were created as a result of different projects and thesis works. Therefore, reconfiguring an assembled system, such as a production cell, can be time-consuming. The aim of the initiative presented in this paper is to present the initial designing, software development and implementation process of a system that solves the aforementioned challenges. During the designing process, the Industry 4.0 basics are considered.