The main research of the macroarea Industrial Engineering and Automation (IEA) deals with product development, manufacturing and assembly processes, design and management of production systems, operations and supply chain management as well as mechanical and mechatronic design and robotics, automation and digitization techniques in the context of Industry 4.0, with a focus on the specific requirements of small and medium manufacturing, construction and agricultural businesses. The IEA team consists of more than 30 international professors, researchers and research fellows that moreover can conduct their research in four research laboratories.

Covered topics

Mechanical Engineering Design

• New product development and design creativity
• Material characterization and advanced machine design
• Design optimization of lightweight structural-mechanical systems
• Kinematics and dynamics of multibody systems

Automation and Manufacturing Technologies

• High-performance machines, robotics and mechatronics
• Automatic control and optimal motion planning
• Mechatronics for predictive maintenance and energy efficiency in automated systems
• Advanced and additive manufacturing technologies
• Safety in industrial (collaborative) robotics

Production and Supply Chain Management

• Adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in corporations and SMEs
• Application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to support the planning and monitoring of processes and projects
• Adoption of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies and implications on firm performance
• Interrelationship between lean production and Industry 4.0
  Impact of Industry 4.0 on production and logistics, with particular attention to the manufacturing, plant building as well as civil industry
• Impact of Industry 4.0 on sustainability (social and environmental)
• Sustainability in linear as well as circular supply chains, productions systems, and companies

Field Robotics

• Dynamic modelling, design and development of field robots
• Advanced automatic- and shared- control of field robots (e.g. non-linear, adaptive, robust control)
• Mobile manipulators, perception and actuation
• Applied research in, e.g., agriculture, forestry, environmental monitoring

Coordinator

Dominik Matt