Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect
Procedia Manufacturing
Available 00 (2018) 000–000
Availableonline
onlineatatwww.sciencedirect.com
www.sciencedirect.com
Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect 
Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2017) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
46th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 46, Texas, USA
46th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference, NAMRC 46, Texas, USA
Remote and Virtual Labs for Engineering Education 4.0
Remote and Virtual
Achievements Labs
of the ELLI for atEngineering
project Education
the TU Dortmund University 4.0
ManufacturingAchievements
Engineering of the ELLI
Society project at Conference
International the TU Dortmund University
2017, MESIC 2017, 28-30 June
2017, Vigo (Pontevedra), Spain
Joshua Grodotzki*, Tobias R. Ortelt, A. Erman Tekkaya
Joshua Grodotzki*, Tobias R. Ortelt, A. Erman Tekkaya
Costing models forUniversity,
TU Dortmund capacity Institute ofoptimization in Industry
Forming Technology and Lightweight Components 4.0:
(IUL) Trade-off
TU Dortmund University, Institute ofDortmund,
Forming Technology
Germany and Lightweight Components (IUL)
between used capacity and
Dortmund, operational efficiency
Germany

A. Santanaa, P. Afonsoa,*, A. Zaninb, R. Wernkeb

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-231-755-7852; fax: +49-231-755-2489.
* Corresponding
E-mail address:author. Tel.: +49-231-755-7852; fax: +49-231-755-2489.
Joshua.Grodotzki@iul.tu-dortmund.de
a
University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
E-mail address: Joshua.Grodotzki@iul.tu-dortmund.de
b
Unochapecó, 89809-000 Chapecó, SC, Brazil

Abstract
Abstract
The requirements on the education of engineers change with an increasing demand from the industry to drive the transformation of
Abstract
The requirements
the fourth industrialon the education
revolution. A of engineers
series change with an increasing
of education-related demandwas
research projects from the industry
therefore to drive
launched by the
thetransformation
German Federal of
the fourthofindustrial
Ministry Education revolution.
and A series
Research in of education-related
Germany (BMBF), of research
which projects
the was therefore
cooperative project launched
ELLI - by the German
“Excellent Federal
Teaching and
Under the concept of "Industry 4.0", production processes will be pushed to be increasingly interconnected,
Ministry
Learning of Education and
in Engineering Research onein Germany (BMBF), of whichOfthethecooperative project involved,
ELLI - “Excellent Teaching and
information based on aScience”
real timeis basis among the most extensive.
and, necessarily, three universities
much more efficient. In this context, namely RWTH
capacity Aachen
optimization
Learning
University,in Ruhr-Universität
Engineering Science” Bochum is one
andamong the most University,
TU Dortmund extensive. Of thethe
lastthree
is atuniversities
the center of involved, namely RWTH
the development Aachen
of remote and
goes beyond
University, the traditional aim of capacity maximization, contributinglast also
is at for
the organization’s profitability of and value.
virtual labsRuhr-Universität
for mechanical Bochum
engineeringand TU Dortmund
education withUniversity,
a focus on the manufacturing center of the development
technology. A tele-operative remote and
material
Indeed, lean
characterization management
virtual labs for testing
mechanical
cell wasand continuous
engineering
conceptualized improvement
education with a focus
and implemented, approaches
alongon with suggest
manufacturing capacity
a remote labtechnology.
for incrementaloptimization
A tele-operative instead
tube forming. To of
material
make
maximization.
characterization
further The
use of thetesting study
remotecell of
was
labs, capacity optimization and
conceptualized and implemented,
a Massive-Open-Online-Course costing models
along was
(MOOC) is
withcreated an
a remote important
lab for
which research
incremental
incorporates topic that
tube forming.
remote deserves
labs as partTo of
makethe
contributions
further
appliedusedidactic from
of the bothlabs,
remote
methods. the
To apractical and
the theoretical
Massive-Open-Online-Course
overcome perspectives.
limits of remote (MOOC) This
was
labs, virtual paperwhich
created presents
representations of and
thesediscusses
incorporates remote
labs aa mathematical
and labs as partvirtual
general of the
model
applied for capacity
didactic
experimentation lab management
methods.
were To overcome
developed. based
They on
theare different
limits costing
of remote
designed models
labs,
for different virtual (ABC
devices and TDABC).
representations
enabling the of A to
these
students generic
labs and model
explore a and hasvirtual
general been
experiment
experimentation
developed
complex and itlab
processes waswere
useddeveloped.
visually. to analyze
All They
idleare
these measures designed
capacity
are andfor
currently different
tobeing
design devicesinto
strategies
integrated enabling
variousthe
towards thestudents to explore
maximization
lectures in different of andprograms.
experiment
organization’s
study In
complex
the second
value. Theprocesses
funding
trade-offvisually.
phase, All these
ELLI2,
capacity measures
the spectrum
maximization arevscurrently
of being efficiency
the developed
operational integrated into
labs is broadenedvariousbylectures
is highlighted the and in itdifferent
inclusion study
of new
is shown programs.
processes
that In
and
capacity
the second funding
introduction
optimization ofmight phase,
technologies, ELLI2,
such as the
hide operational spectrumReality
Augmented
inefficiency. of theand
developed
Additivelabs is broadened by the inclusion of new processes and
Manufacturing.
introduction
© of technologies,
2017 The Authors. Publishedsuch
byas Augmented
Elsevier B.V. Reality and Additive Manufacturing.
© 2018 The
Peer-review Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
© 2018 The under
Authors.responsibility
Published byof Elsevier
the scientific
B.V. committee of the Manufacturing Engineering Society International Conference
© 2018 The Authors.
Peer-review
2017. under Published by
responsibility of Elsevier
the B.V. committee of NAMRI/SME.
scientific
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 46th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of NAMRI/SME.
remote
Keywords: Cost
Keywords: lab; virtual
Models; ABC;lab; virtualCapacity
TDABC; reality; augmented reality;
Management; IdleIndustry 4.0;
Capacity; engineering
Operational education 4.0; active learning, MOOC
Efficiency
Keywords: remote lab; virtual lab; virtual reality; augmented reality; Industry 4.0; engineering education 4.0; active learning, MOOC

1. Introduction

The cost of idle capacity is a fundamental information for companies and their management of extreme importance
in modern©production
2351-9789 systems.
2018 The Authors. In general,
Published it isB.V.
by Elsevier defined as unused capacity or production potential and can be measured
in several©under
2351-9789
Peer-review ways: tons of production,
2018responsibility
The Authors. Published
of available
by Elsevier
the scientific B.V.hours
committee of manufacturing, etc. The management of the idle capacity
of NAMRI/SME.
Peer-review underTel.:
* Paulo Afonso. responsibility
+351 253 of the761;
510 scientific committee
fax: +351 253 604of741
NAMRI/SME.
E-mail address: psafonso@dps.uminho.pt

2351-9789 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Manufacturing Engineering Society International Conference 2017.
2351-9789 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 46th SME North American Manufacturing Research Conference.
10.1016/j.promfg.2018.07.126
1350 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
1. Introduction
With the fourth industrial revolution, often referred
to as Industry 4.0, having an all-pervasive influence on
almost every aspect of the high-quality manufacturing
sector in the German and other economies, the
transformation is not limited to factories and
production systems but also the requirements on the
people who drive this transformation. The term
Industry 4.0 was originally established by the German
Federal Ministry of Education and Research in
Germany (BMBF) as part of an elaborate strategy to
foster the advancement of current manufacturing
facilities into smart factories which include cyber-
physical systems, cloud computing and artificial
intelligence and other innovative technologies [1-3].
Since 2011, the BMBF has funded many
technology-focused projects related to this goal,
including “it’s OWL” [4], ARAMIS I+II [5] and
BaSys 4.0 [6]. This, along with the rising customer
demands has led to a development rush in the entire
production industry putting high hopes on the outcome
of this technological (r)evolution. Nowadays,
especially small and medium-sized enterprises are
supported since they account for around 60% of
Germany’s workforce but have limited financial
background to invest in such technologies to keep up
with the major enterprises [7].
It is often disregarded that innovation comes not
only from investing in new technology but more so
from investing in people and their education so that
they can implement such a change in technology [8].
In a recent report published by the German National
Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the
importance of skills and their development in a rapidly
changing work environment 4.0 was highlighted
[9,10].
Also since 2011, the Teaching Quality Pact (QPL),
which is financed together by the individual states and
the federal government, funds over 250 projects at
around 185 higher education facilities until the year
2020 [11]. The main goal is to improve the study
conditions and teaching quality in all educational
fields across Germany.
In the overlap between the rising demand from the
industry for engineers better suited to tackle problems
of Industry 4.0 and the drive to increase teaching
quality, the cooperative ELLI project - “Excellent
Teaching and Learning in Engineering Science” – is at
2
the center of developing new strategies for engineering
education 4.0.
The high importance of experiment based learning
in higher engineering education [12] coupled with the
increasing number of students drive the promotion of
remote laboratories, which lead to efficient and
effective usage of the machines available. Moreover,
barriers of time and distance can be broken down
while maintaining the benefits of a research-based
learning approach [13]. On a similar note, active
learning setups in engineering education, proven to be
a significant improvement over the classical teaching
approaches [14], have greatly benefited from the
developments in Augmented Reality (AR) [15-17] and
Virtual Reality (VR) technologies [18,19]. These
technologies can be further combined with actual
remote laboratories, creating various novel tools for
engineering education.
The ELLI projects aims to develop, introduce and
evaluate several kinds of remote and virtual
laboratories into higher engineering education. The
results and insights from this project are expected to
serve as a foundation for the continuous future
improvement of engineering education towards
education 4.0.
In Chapter 2, the ELLI project is introduced and a
brief overview is provided with a focus on the core
work done at the TU Dortmund University and in
particular the Institute of Forming Technology and
Lightweight Components (IUL). In Chapter 3, the
details regarding the remote laboratories are
elucidated covering the entire range of established
remote labs and those currently under development.
An overview of the recently launched MOOC which
uses remote labs as part of the learning experience is
also given. Chapter 4 covers the field of VR and AR
projects which are often related to the developments in
Chapter 3. The results from students’ evaluations are
presented briefly in Chapter 5. Chapter 6, will provide
an overall summary of the results achieved until now.
2. The ELLI Project
The ELLI Project is a collaborative endeavor of
three universities in Germany, all located in the
Federal State of North-Rhine Westphalia: RWTH
Aachen University, Ruhr-Universität Bochum and TU
Dortmund University to consistently pursue the goal
of creating a teachers’ and learners’ future
 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
environment, i.e., to innovate with the intention of
improving the methodology of transfer of engineering
knowledge by the teaching staff and to aid and
enhance the grasp of the learners. For the past five
years, many milestones were achieved by the
combined efforts of the professionals of both the
camps: the scientific and the educational. In the first
phase of funding, the three institutes consolidated their
didactic and scientific prowess to implement projects
like remote and virtual laboratories accompanied by
workshops to embed novel approaches to engineering
education in the minds of the involved. Significant
results were obtained and published in leading journals
[20], an impetus was also put on the transfer of
knowledge among the institutes and on a national and
international scale.
Fig. 1. Structure of the ELLI2 project in the second funding period
One of the achievements of the ELLI Project in the
first phase of funding is the Remote Labs and Virtual
Learning Environments, which is also one of the core
units of the project, cf. Fig. 1. This unit involved the
establishment of remote and virtual labs along with the
development of e-learning and mobile learning
solutions. The impact of these developments was then
gauged by the didactical integration of the respective
laboratories into academic teaching. As Industry 4.0 is
the call of the hour, it was deemed essential in the
quest to prepare the students for the challenges they
will face during research and application at the
industries. At the beginning of the project, establishing
the laboratory equipment was the main challenge
facing the participating institutes. This involved
networking the various processes and machines at
these physical locations to make them remotely
operable. This endeavor may be regarded as an effort
1351
3
by ELLI to fuse the fields of mechanical engineering
and production technology, in preparation for the
impending wave of automation and digitalization
which is expected to replace traditional engineering
jobs with advanced mechanical and digital hybrid
jobs.
Apart from the aforementioned unit, the other units
of the ELLI project were not only focused on
improving the method in which engineering education
is imparted, but also included key aspects of
knowledge assimilation and application to diverse
challenges. Student Mobility and Internationalization,
another core unit of ELLI, identified the barriers to
student mobility and engineering education while
giving required consideration to the cultural diversity
existing in today’s globalized workplace.
With a number of result-oriented projects already
accomplished, in the second funding period, the
ELLI2 project, as illustrated in Fig. 1, plans to forge
ahead by promoting interdisciplinary competencies
and developing a roadmap for teachers and students in
engineering education 4.0 to nurture their subject-
related skills.
3. Remote Laboratories
3.1 Tele-operative Testing Cell
It is deemed absolutely essential in engineering
education that the theoretical knowledge imparted to
the students in the classroom be adequately
accompanied by practical experience through
laboratory experiments [12,13,21]. To this end, a tele-
operative testing cell for forming operations was
Laser scanner
Aramis 4M
Control
BUP 1000
KUKA KR 30-3
Z 250
Fig. 2. Tele-operative testing cell for material characterization [15]
1352 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
conceptualized [22,23] and is presented, see Fig. 2.
By providing the students free and convenient access
– location and time independent – to the laboratory
equipment over the internet, incorporating the tele-
operative testing cell into lectures and homework
helps to link theory with practice.
Apart from the vital role played by laboratory
experiments in engineering education, the results of
the standardized material characterization tests help to
optimize designs and structures. This can lead to
significant savings in material and operation costs by
making designs extremely lightweight [24]. Also, the
results can directly be put to use in a Finite-Element-
Method (FEM) based simulation. The most commonly
known and used tests, and also of high general
importance are the tensile test and the cupping test
performed on sheet or bulk metal specimen to
determine the elastic and plastic behavior and the
formability of the material specimen. These tests have
been successfully implemented in the tele-operative
testing cell. It is expected that the students create a
positive learning environment for themselves using
this tool, to question and verify the theoretical
hypothesis and develop a research temperament
towards experimentation and the course contents.
Even though the implications of correctly
determined process diagrams are of immense
importance, many students may not experience it due
to many reasons, such as unfamiliarity with the
specialized testing machine, safety concerns or most
commonly, restricted access to the machine due to
time and security limits for the usage. It can be clearly
seen from the advantages of the remote testing cell that
these disadvantages can be easily bypassed by it.
3.1.1. Objectives
The tele-operative testing cell intends to encompass
standardized testing experiments and also allow for
innovative experimental procedures. Once the creation
of a comprehensive package of ever accessible
experiments, irrespective of time and distance, is
complete, it could be used by the students to design
and conduct experiments with inspiration from the
theoretical courses to determine process parameters
quantitatively [25]. They are expected to make
reasonable assumptions, conduct suitable experiments
and derive useful knowledge from their findings,
affirming or disproving their assumptions.
4
3.1.2. Theory of the tests
In the classical tensile test, one aims to determine
the elastic properties such as the Young’s modulus,
Poisson's ratio among others and the plastic properties
such as the yield stress, hardening, Ultimate Tensile
Strength etc. In forming technologies especially, the
flow curve which is calculated based on the results
from the tensile test is also of great interest. The testing
cell was equipped to provide the user with the liberty
to vary the parameters like the strain rate, the
orientation of the specimen (to observe the anisotropic
effects) among other options. This required
synchronizing all the different remotely-controllable
machines in the test cell.
The cupping test can be succinctly described as the
deformation of a sheet specimen using a punch. The
sheet specimen is clamped between blank holder and
die, cf. Fig. 7 (b) in Section 4.1. This process is
performed at a predefined speed and continued until a
fine crack opens up in the sheet. This crack is formed
after the punch is displaced by a particular amount,
known as the cupping value and is an important output
of the cupping test. The maximum ratio between the
circular plate and the drawing punch diameter, which
still allows a perfect production of a cup, is called the
limiting drawing ratio and is an indicator for the
formability of the sheet material. These values are
determined by the cupping test and can then be used
for the design of processes with the tested materials
while avoiding damage and failure.
3.1.3. Machines and Measurement Systems
The following list gives an overview of the various
machines as well as the measurement systems which
are required to operate the testing cell according to its
intended purpose.
• Universal testing machine Zwick Z 250: The
universal testing machine can conduct tensile and
compression tests with a force of up to 250 kN.
Measuring systems for force as well as change of
length and width are integrated.
• Sheet metal testing machine BUP 1000 for Cupping
and forming limit curve (FLC) tests.
• Lubrication unit to lubricate the specimen before
testing (in the cupping test).
• Magazine to store the specimens for the tests.
• Optical measuring system GOM ARAMIS 4M:
This system is used to record the strain (rate) during
the experiments and it is also used for the
calculation of deformation plots.
 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
• Industrial robot KUKA KR30-3: The main task of
the robot is the handling of the specimens. For the
different specimen shapes for the different tests,
two-finger type grippers and pneumatic suction
grippers were developed. For the handling of the
specimen of cupping test, the pneumatic suction
grippers were employed.
3.1.4. IT/Safety Components
In the list below, the IT components are presented
which are used to network the machines listed in
Section 3.1.3. The communication interface of all the
components is depicted in Fig. 3.
• Real-time control system: The complete testing cell
is controlled by a PXI-System of National
Instruments. Hence, the whole software was
developed with LabVIEW and controls all
machines and peripheral equipment.
• Safety system: A safety system consisting of a
programmable logic controller PLC, laser scanners
shielding the testing cell against human entering
and safety-switches ensuring the shutdown if an
error occurs. This system works parallel to the real-
time control system and monitors it. The maximum
speed of the robot is also limited, ensuring that even
in the worst case scenario – a human running into
the laser scanner at full speed – cannot be hit by the
robot being shut down by the PLC.
• Camera system: The camera system consists of
eight cameras with HD resolution. Most of them
can be panned, tilted and zoomed by the viewers of
the experiment.
Fig. 3. Structure of the communication interfaces [15].
These machines, however, need to be managed at
the software level due to the complexity and
1353
5
simultaneousness of multiple processes. This was one
of the challenges faced during the development of the
testing cell, which will grow to a higher magnitude as
more and more different experiments are added.
For both the tests, Experiment Manager, a software
developed with LabVIEW was introduced to
communicate and exchange data with the different
devices over digital or analog channels. For the
machines that do not provide a remote interface,
communication was realized between the controlling
unit of the device and a PXI system for the exchange
of data [26].
The user interface, depicted in Fig. 4., can be
accessed online through a web-server which uses the
HTML5-conversion function of the current LabVIEW
version to copy the Experiment Manager online. It
facilitates the input of process parameters from the
user, e.g. the clamping force of the head and the
velocity of the punch. The specimen is extracted from
the magazine, monitored by a virtual magazine which
keeps track of the presence of the specimen in the
magazine, and inserted into the machine where the
experiment is started. The live view tab enables the
user to follow the actions of the different machines.
The results window shows, upon request, various
process-relevant graphs like the force-displacement
diagram.
As can be seen in Fig. 3, the large number of
different machines and communication channels
create a large amount of real-time data of various types
during a test. Management of the testing cell using the
Experiment Manager software was therefore designed
Menu
Parameters Results graph
Live view
Fig. 4. Screenshot of the user interface for the cupping test with the
important sections being highlighted and labelled.
1354 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
to be of component-based architecture type, i.e., all the
participating machines were termed as components.
Based on this concept, an interface to communicate
with the various components and also with the
individual functionalities of these components was
developed. This greatly simplifies the repetition of an
experiment like tensile test where the parameters are
varied but the components (machines participating in
the experiment in various roles) remain mostly the
same.
In both tests, the automation system requires a
specific stopping criterion to detect the crack
occurrence in the specimen. This is handled by a crack
identification algorithm which monitors the gradient
of the force and stops the test when the gradient
changes too quickly. The test cup can then be rotated
by the remote user and observed from all sides using
multiple camera streams.
3.1.5. Integration into education
The theoretical aspects of sheet-metal and bulk-
metal forming are included in the scope of the lectures
provided to bachelor and master degree students at the
IUL. These aspects are accompanied by observational
phenomenon typically seen in processes as deep
drawing like earring, wrinkling, tensile failure (crack
formation) etc. This testing cell permits the teachers to
integrate the live experimentation as a part of the
lecture, which motivates the students to think about the
material behavior during problem-solving [27]. This is
additionally achieved by using an audience response
system prior to showing the live experiments.
On the other hand, an experiment is expected to act
as a supporting element for the understanding of the
students [28]. To this end, the integration into the
learning process was based on a developed phase
model considering an enhanced Kolb’s learning cycle
[29,30]. This can be summarized as a procedure in
which students start the learning process by
experiencing an initial demonstration of the
phenomenon and then reflect their observation
followed by the conceptualization of the phenomena
and planning of own experimental examination.
The freedom to experiment with one’s ideas in the
given timeslot irrespective of the location is the
greatest advantage to the students. They are registered
on the server and time slots are booked. The
observations from the various camera streams
indicating the final state of the specimen can motivate
6
the student to ask questions like the relation between
the earing in the specimen and the anisotropy (effect
of rolling direction) of the sheet. Then the students
were asked to analyze the information from the tests
of the specimen and predict the outcome of a similar
test for a different set of parameters. The students
hence gain valuable insight into the effect and
influence of the different parameters on the process.
In the sequence of activities, the successful initial
application of the testing cell paved the way for a full
pilot. The students of the International Master’s
Program, Master of Science in Manufacturing
Technology, at TU Dortmund remotely performed the
tensile test in the laboratories at the IUL before they
even arrived in Germany [31]. For an accurate
demonstration of the process, the students were
provided with the choice of a time slot for performing
the tensile test. After defining the parameters, the
experiment was started and could be continuously
monitored by the students. This experience was highly
valued by the students, who mostly never had access
to such testing equipment before [31].
Aligning with the aim of the ELLI project to
connect the classroom and the shop floor, the tele-
operative testing cell is not only able to facilitate the
transfer of experimental observations to the students,
it is able to achieve it with the prevalently used
standard set up for the process. This testing cell can be
accessed from all around the world and integration of
this cell is expected to benefit the teacher-student
community of the participating institutes for many
years and applications.
3.2. Tele-operative tube bending cell
Subsequent to the material testing cell, a tele-
operative tube bending cell was developed and
integrated into lectures. The first machine in this cell
is one for incremental tube bending processes (ITF)
with stress superposition [32].
In the incremental tube bending process, a
combination of the two fundamental process is
achieved, namely the tube bending process and tube
spinning process. As a result, one observes a reduction
in the bending forces and the springback due to the use
of superposition of stresses [33]. This process is
demonstrable on the ITF machine with Siemens
control and key elements as seen in Fig. 5.
The workpiece is a straight tube, which is fixed at
one end and introduced into the spinning unit
 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360 1355
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000 7

• Radius of the bending section

• Length of the bending section
• Diameter at the beginning of the bending section
• Diameter at the end of the bending section
• Wall thickness of the section
Rotational speed
The LabVIEW develops the visual for the user to
observe and verify the geometry, only after which the
process can be started. This stage also supports all
adjustments required for the process.
Numerous parameters, like the maximum rotational
speed and the bending lever, are prescribed and the
Fig. 5. Tube bending machine using stress superposition
client of the remote lab is not permitted to alter them
as incorrect values may cause extensive damage and
consisting of three rollers, which have adjustable
might even put the machine out of service.
rotational speed and radial infeed (for the reduction of
With the input of these values, the data is then
diameter). The tube is then bent using the bending
transferred to machine control. These values are used
device with adjustable levers. The bending device has
to create a video which shows the movement of the
rolls, whose path is controlled and restricted
axis of the tube for each time step, compiled in a
perpendicular to the feed direction.
continuous form. Once the 3D outlook of the process
The process is very flexible as it permits change of
is verified, the student can permit the data to be
parameters during the operation and permits multiple
transferred to the NC control and start the process.
operations such as reduction of the diameter and wall
As with the other testing cell, a number of high
thickness (using radial infeed of spinning rolls and an
definition cameras are installed in the surrounding of
internal mandrel for support), bending tubes with
the machine to provide a live feed of the process to the
different diameters etc. It is due to the combined action
student from multiple angles. This live feed is also an
of this equipment that spinning and bending can be
indicator to the student about the start/end and other
simultaneously performed to achieve superposition of
phases of the process. Once the process is seen to be
stresses [33].
complete, the bending force, which is being
continuously logged into the LabVIEW interface is
3.2.1. Automation and IT
saved into a text file.
The advancement performed in this field was the
development of an interface-cum-data management
3.2.2. Integration into the learning environment
system integrated with the existing environment of the
By observing the effects of stress-superposition, the
incremental tube forming process. This interface is
students should be able to extrapolate the acquired
developed using the software LabVIEW for the
knowledge to understand and analyze similar
exchange of the process values with due consideration
processes in a much greater depth. Stress-
given to the safe process-window values to ensure the
superposition is expected to be of significant
safety of the machine environment and to prevent any
importance when optimizing various forming
failures which might lead to the disruption of the
technologies in the future. Additionally, the students
remote control.
learn how to operate an industry grade machine
The LabVIEW interface will be employed to
remotely – a typical aspect of Industry 4.0. They can
visualize the results of the bending process after the
further understand the benefits which the bending of
input of the data in 2D and 3D, for correction of the
tubes promises in the field of lightweight construction
inputs before the real process is started. The tube is
without worrying about their safety as there is no
divided into various bending sections and the
physical contact with the machine.
following data is required to be provided for each
section:
1356 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
3.3. MINTReLab – Combining Online-Learning with
tele-operative laboratories
To further increase the use of the developed tele-
operative testing cell, five different institutions of the
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the TU
Dortmund University collaboratively launched a
MOOC called MINTReLab – International
Manufacturing Remote Lab (MINT is also the
German version of the abbreviation STEM) [34]. It
includes the use of remote labs to enhance the
students’ learning experience beyond what is typically
conveyed by classical MOOC approaches, see Fig. 6.
Lab
Lectures Combining
Theory Practice
study MOOC gather new
online insights
conduct
whenever
experiments
wherever Remote-Lab
access
Fig. 6. Concept of the MINTReLab-MOOC to combine theory and
practice complemented by social-related videos
The intention was to enable the students to
understand the basics of the tensile test and the basics
of a (remote) laboratory without the need to have a
physical instructor explaining it directly.
To this end, the entire course is based on the
uniaxial tensile test as seen from the different experts’
perspectives. In each chapter, the content is linked to
specific aspects of the tensile test to highlight the
importance and the multifarious nature of this test for
various fields of mechanical and other engineering
professions.
It is typical for projects related to the ELLI
initiative to include the experts from the Higher
Education Department who constantly advise the
development of the course tapping into their expertise
on engineering education.
A major focus during the development was on the
creation of explanatory animations (2D and 3D) as
well as short videos in which processes or process
stages are elucidated. Such elements are essential to
effectively convey information in the absence of a
physical teacher. Another benefit is, that these
elements can also be embedded in regular lectures in
8
order to clarify difficult topics which highly profit by
an animated depiction of the issue.
A total of 20 sections have been developed, each
between 10-20 minutes in duration. Each section
incorporates at least one question to be answered by
the viewer. It can be a single- or multiple-choice or a
quick calculation. Apart from these small tests, each
chapter uses the remote testing cell to a certain extent.
In some cases, the actual experiment has to be
performed, which is viewed live using multiple
camera streams, whereas in others the data of that
experiment is analyzed from a specific point of view.
This is intended to make the students aware of the
versatile use of the tensile test and the manifold
insights that can be derived from it.
4. Virtual Laboratories
As the next biggest category of the Remote Labs
and Virtual Learning Environment core unit, several
virtual labs are currently being developed and
established within the purview of ELLI project of
which the ones deployed at the TU Dortmund
University are presented in the following. The
intention is to use such labs for active and explorative
learning to understand complex or abstract processes
[35].
4.1. The Testing Cell as a virtual reality (VR) lab
Based on the remote testing cell presented in
Chapter 3, a virtual representation of this cell was
created in cooperation with experts from the Faculty
of Information Technology [36]. The goal was to
enhance the possibilities the remote lab offers through
the virtual labs.
Among several limiting factors of remote labs –
accessibility, process parameters, malfunctions and
others – one of the critical problems, especially in
forming technology is the fact that one does not have
a clear view of the process while in operation. The
higher the required forces to form a material into
shape, higher the obstruction to view the process being
carried out. This is mainly due to massive dies,
punches, hulls and support structures necessary to
successfully finish the desired operation.
The BUP 1000 which is part of the remote testing
cell is an appropriate example here, see Fig. 7. Even
though it is a scaled-down version of a typical
industrial press to be used as a testing machine, there
 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
is only a limited window of visibility through which
the operator can monitor the forming process. As it is
known to the students from the basic forming
technology classes, a key forming zone in the deep
drawing process is the flange region, see. Fig. 7 (b). So
is the case in deep drawing too, that the massive
blankholder blocks the view of the actual forming
process, cf. Fig. 7 (a). It is in cases such as these that a
virtual representation aids in further deepening the
understanding of the process by enabling the user to
hide critical components of the machine in order to
view the process without obstructions.
(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Actual and theoretical view of the cupping test (machine)
To this end, a virtual environment mimicking the
remote testing cell was developed at the IUL. Initially,
the generation process involved creating/gathering the
necessary CAD-files from the machines which are part
of the actual testing cell. In the special case that such
a CAD-file is shared by the manufacturing company,
a lot of details irrelevant to the use of the virtual testing
cell were present that would increase the
computational time and power required. Therefore,
simplified versions of the machines were developed
using Autodesk’s Maya software.
These reduced models help to keep the
computational cost at a minimum and channelize only
the view of the parts to the user which are of interest.
Depending on the computer used to run the VR
simulation the details can be chosen to remain at a
higher level to increase the realistic feeling of the
virtual testing cell. Fig. 8 highlights the crucial steps
of the process described above.
In order to establish interaction between the user
and the virtual environment, white-boards are placed
next to the machines, cf. Fig. 8 in the bottom left. On
these boards, the user can select, for instance, the type
of metal to be tested or the blankholder force to be
1357
9
Fig. 8. Road-map for the development of a virtual environment
used. The selection is done using an input device of
user’s choice, such as a keyboard or a controller.
After finishing the selection of the desired set of
parameters, the user can start the virtual forming
process. This action triggers the display of a pre-run
FEM-simulation that correlates to the chosen set of
parameters. In its current stage of development, the
dependency on pre-run FEM-simulations limits the
general use of the virtual testing cell as compared to
actual experiments where there are no limitations to
the chosen parameters except those given by the
machine. This, in turn, can also be seen as an
advantage of the virtual testing environment where,
for instance, different temperatures can easily be
simulated. In reality, costly additional parts had to be
installed in order to enable a deep drawing test at
elevated temperatures.
4.2. A Universal Virtual Experimentation Lab
Even though the virtual testing cell is able to offer
a virtual copy of the actual testing cell with a high level
of detail and hence a realistic feel, it is unable to
harness the full potential in terms of knowledge
obtained when compared to actual experiments. This
is primarily due to the limitations on the existing
machines as well as the focus on the process as a whole
rather than the detailed outcomes of the experiments
themselves. As a counter to the aforementioned
problem, a virtual experimentation lab (VE-Lab) is
being developed, designed to be of general use for all
types of experiments [37].
The VE-Lab is a web- and app-based environment
with access to a library of pre-run virtual experiments.
These experiments can be based on FEM,
1358 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and other
computational simulation methods which are capable
of depicting actual experiments to a reasonable degree
of accuracy. The spectrum of experiments covered in
the VE-Lab would include material tests, forming and
machining processes, product tests etc., and would act
as an inclusive resource for virtual testing. However,
this virtual lab will not be limited to experiments of
interest to mechanical engineers but will provide open-
access to all fields of research and development. The
IUL coordinates the development of the VE-Lab itself
as well as provides the data for material tests and
forming processes. The VE-Lab is intended to be used
in problem-based learning courses where students can
gain key insights about the process from the virtual
experiments and not from the provided text material,
which is currently the case.
Though the tensile test is also part of the virtual
testing cell, cf. Section 4.1, it shall give an impression
of the VE-Lab in the following section. In a typical
forming technology lecture, students would be
assigned the task of writing a short report in which
they explain the difference between engineering (ε)
and true (φ) strain, engineering and true stress as well
as the limits of the tensile test. The students receive
very basic theoretical information and can download
the VE-App or can access it online. Using mobile
devices or VR/AR headsets and controllers, they can
open pre-run 3D-FEM simulations of different tensile
tests with varying geometry and test parameters.
Alongside scaling, rotating and cutting the 3D object,
Fig. 9 (a), they can display typical diagrams, such as
stress-strain (b), next to it. The object itself can show
various output variables of interest, for instance,
stress, strain (rate) or temperature, to analyze the
distribution of these variables. A sectional view of a
Fig. 9. Exemplary depiction of the VE-Lab, showing the 3D-object
in (a) and additional information related to it in (b).
10
certain area can reveal further information. For
instance, analyzing the strain rate in the sectioned part
explains, based on the localizing of deformation
(strain rate) on the onset of necking, why the tensile
test loses its validity (valid for uniform deformation)
at this particular point of the test.
This example demonstrates the inclusion of the VE-
Lab into lectures as part of self-studying exercises. In
the future, when more experiments are incorporated,
complex problems can be investigated by the students
based on the combined analyses of various available
experiments.
A critical aspect of the proposed VE-Lab is that the
students need to learn about the limitations of this type
of numerical experiment and the same time they are
using this lab. This is because such pre-run simulations
can only show the effects which were initially
included by the teacher/engineer who setup the
simulation. One option to raise the awareness of the
students is to display informative messages before or
after particular actions by the user. Those messages
can include small explanations about specific
limitations, for instance, the accuracy of the material
model or the mesh.
5. Evaluation of the Teaching Effectiveness
Throughout the first funding phase and now shortly
into the second one, the ELLI project has made rapid
progress in enhancing the quality of teaching in
engineering education and the improvement of study
conditions. Only a small excerpt of the overall
research is presented in this paper.
Assessing the impact of the measures was done
based on evaluation of the compulsory forming lecture
for pre-final year mechanical engineering students.
This lecture is given by the IUL each Fall Semester
and new developments are integrated here first. The
batch sizes ranged between 150-250 students. Of the
extensive evaluation, only the overall assessment is
shown here. As can be seen from Fig. 10, there is a
positive trend over the last six years.
At (I) an audience response system, as well as the
remote lab for the tensile test, were included. At point
(II) recording of the lecture, which is provided online
to the students after the lecture, and the remote lab for
the cupping test were introduced. In some cases, there
is an immediate effect and in others the positive effect
is delayed, mainly due to the improved incorporation
of the measures over the years which comes with
 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
How do you evaluate the entire lecture?
("1 - excellent" to "5 - insufficient")
5,00 I II
4,00 3,17
2,53 2,35 2,30
3,00 2,30
1,94
2,00
1,00
Fig. 10: Evaluation of the compulsory forming lecture for pre-
final year mechanical engineering students.
experience. When asked directly what was special
about the lecture, these measures are often named as
positive aspects that differentiates this lecture from
other engineering courses.
In the future, the remote and virtual labs currently
under development will be included in this or other
lectures depending on the highest expected benefit.
6. Conclusion and Outlook
The collaborative approach in this project –
transcending university borders and disciplines – has
proven to be the most suitable approach for developing
and establishing innovative concepts, which prepare
the next generation of engineering students for the
complex and varied tasks they will face in the future.
The diverse ELLI project has led to a wide range of
insights regarding advancing engineering education to
the 4.0-era. Among these, the following shall be
particularly highlighted: in the future, engineering
education has to accomplish two tasks: First, teach the
content of Industry 4.0 such as big data analysis,
automation and Internet-of-Things, but second, do this
in a 4.0-manner. That means, inherently in the
education process, technologies found in Industry 4.0
have to be naturally implemented such that students
experience the benefits and limitations of such
technology first hand during the learning process.
In the second funding phase, of which some
projects are outlined in this paper, the integration
process will dominate over the development of new
technology. Technologies along with innovative
didactic elements which have been developed in phase
one will now be directly implemented into a variety of
1359
11
lectures. The concepts will further be presented to
other fields of studies, hoping that others will also
incorporate the findings into their future education.
For instance, the tensile testing cell will be
enhanced by an induction heating unit to broaden the
spectrum of selectable parameters with the
temperature, a crucial factor when analyzing material
behavior.
With a new selective laser melting (SLM) machine
being available at the IUL, new labs will be developed.
This includes hands-on as well as remote labs, in order
to have the students interact with this new production
technology which is expected to play a vital role in the
future of manufacturing.
Same holds true for augmented reality devices,
which will be used to develop novel AR-Labs. These
labs will be incorporated into existing labs to enhance
the user experience and prepare the students for a
mixed-reality future in which handling information by
AR technology will be an essential skill.
Acknowledgements
This work was done in the project “ELLI -
Excellent Teaching and Learning in Engineering
Education” and was funded by the German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (project numbers:
01PL11082C/01PL16082C).
References
[1] Kagermann, H., W. Wahlster and J. Helbig, eds.,
Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative
Industrie 4.0: Final report of the Industrie 4.0 Working Group
(2013).
[2] "Zukunftsprojekt Industrie 4.0 - BMBF". German Federal
Ministry of Education and Research in Germany. Retrieved
from Bmbf.de. 2017-11-13.
[3] M. Hermann, T. Pentek, B. Otto, Design Principles for
Industrie 4.0 Scenarios. 49th Hawaii International Conference
on System Sciences (HICSS), (2016)
[4] “Annual Report it’s OWL 2016”. Intelligent Technical
Systems OstWestfalenLippe. Retrieved from www.its-owl.de.
2017-11-14.
[5] “Program data sheet ARAMIS II”. German Aerospace Center.
Retrieved from www.softwaresysteme.pt-dlr.de. 2017-11-14.
[6] “Program data sheet BaSys 4.0”. German Aerospace Center.
Retrieved from www.softwaresysteme.pt-dlr.de. 2017-11-14.
[7] “Statistics of German SMEs”. Institute for SME Research
(IfM) Bonn. Retreived from www.ifm-bonn.org. 2017-11-13.
1360 Joshua Grodotzki et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 26 (2018) 1349–1360
Grodotzki et al./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000
[8] “Hochschul-Bildungs-Report 2020: Hochschulbildung für die
Arbeitswelt 4.0”, Stifterverband für die Deutsche
Wissenschaft e.V., Essen, 2016.
[9] “Kompetenzentwicklungsstudie Industrie 4.0. Erste Ergebnisse
und Schlussfolgerungen.” acatech - German National
Academy of Science and Engineering. München. Retrieved
from www.acatech.de. 2017-11-1.
[10] “Kompetenzen für Industrie 4.0. Qualizierungsbedarfe und
Lösungsansätze (acatech POSITION)”. acatech - German
National Academy of Science and Engineering. Herbert Utz
Verlag. München, 2016.
[11] “Higher education facilities in the Teaching Quality Pact
(QPL)” BMBF. Retrieved from www.qualitaetspakt-lehre.de.
2017-11-13.
[12] L.D. Feisel, A.J. Rosa, The role of the laboratory in
undergraduate engineering education. Journal of Engineering
Education, 2005, pp. 121-130
[13] J. García-Zubía, R.G. Alves, eds., Using Remote Labs in
Education. Two Little Ducks in Remote Experimentation.
Deusto Publicaciones, 2011
[14] A. Mirkouei, R. Bhinge, C. McCoy, K.R. Haapala, D. A.
Dornfeld, A Pedagogical Module Framework to Improve
Scaffolded Active Learning in Manufacturing Engineering
Education, Procedia Manufacturing, vol. 5, 2016, pp. 1128–
1142
[15] M. Fiorentino, G. Monno, A. Uva, Interactive “touch and see”
FEM Simulation using Augmented Reality, International
Journal of Engineering Education, 2009, 25, pp. 1124–1128.
[16] C. J. Paulus, N. Haouchine, D. Cazier, S. Cotin, Augmented
reality during cutting and tearing of deformable objects.
Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Symposium on
Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR), 2015
[17] J. M. Huang, S. K. Ong, A.Y.C. Nee, Visualization and
interaction of finite element analysis in augmented reality,
Computer Aided Design, 2017
[18] A. Vergara, M. P. Rubio, M. Lorenzo, On the Design of
Virtual Reality Learning Environments in Engineering,
Multimodal Technologies and Interactions, 2017
[19] A.-H. G. Abulrub, A. N. Attridge, M. A. Williams, Virtual
Reality in Engineering Education, IEEE Global Engineering
Education Conference (EDUCON), 2011
[20] S. Frerich, T. Meisen, A. Richert, M. Petermann, S. Jeschke,
U. Wilkesmann, A.E. Tekkaya, Engineering Education 4.0
Excellent Teaching and Learning in Engineering Sciences,
Springer-Verlag New York Inc, 2017
[21] A. E. Tekkaya, U. Wilkesmann, C. Terkowsky, C. Pleul, M.
Radtke, F. Maevus, Das Labor in der ingenieur-
wissenschaftlichen Ausbildung - Zukunftsorientierte Ansätze
aus dem Projekt IngLab (acatech Studie). Reihen-
herausgeber: acatech, Herbert Utz Verlag GmbH, München,
2016.
[22] T. R. Ortelt, A. Sadiki, C. Pleul, C. Becker, S. Chatti, A. E.
Tekkaya, Development of a Tele-Operative Testing Cell as a
Remote Lab for Material Characterization, Proceedings of
2014 International Conference on Interactive Collaborative
Learning, ICL 2014
[23] A. Selvaggio, A. Sadiki, T. R. Ortelt, C. Becker, S. Chatti,
A. E. Tekkaya, Development of a Cupping Test in Remote
Laboratories for Engineering Education, 13th International
Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual
Instrumentation (REV), 2015
12
[24] R. Neugebauer, T. Altan, M. Geiger, M. Kleiner, A. Sterzing,
Sheet metal forming at elevated temperatures, CIRP Annals-
Manufacturing Technology 55 (2), 2006, pp. 793-816.
[25] C. Pleul, C. Terkowsky, I. Jahnke, A. E. Tekkaya, Tele-
operated laboratory experiments in engineering education-
The uniaxial tensile test for material characterization in
forming technology, Deusto Publicaciones, 2011, vol. 1, book
section 16, pp 323-347.
[26] A. Sadiki, T. R. Ortelt, C. Pleul, C. Becker, S. Chatti, A. E.
Tekkaya, The challenge of specimen handling in remote
laboratories for engineering education. 12th International
Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual
Instrumentation (REV). 2012.
[27] T. R. Ortelt, S. Gies, H. Traphöner, S. Chatti, A. E. Tekkaya,
Integration of new concepts and features into forming
technology lectures, IEEE Global Engineering Education
Conference (EDUCON), 2016
[28] C. Pleul, M. Hermes, C. Becker, A. E. Tekkaya, Prolab@ing -
projekt-labor in der modernen ingenieurausbildung. In:
TeachING-LearnING.EU innovations. Flexible Fonds zur
Förderung innovativer Lehre in den Ingenieurwissenschaften,
ed. By M. Petermann, S. Jeschke, A. E. Tekkaya, K. Müller,
K. Schuster, D. May, 2012, pp. 16-21
[29] D. A. Kolb, Experimental learning: experience as the source
of learning and development. Prentice-Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, N. J., 1984.
[30] D. A. Kolb, R. E. Boyatzis, C. Mainemalis, Experimental
Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000.
[31] D. May, A. Sadiki, C. Pleul, A. E. Tekkaya, Transnational
Connected Learning and Experimentation – Using Live
Online Classes and Remote Labs for Preparing International
Engineering Students for an International Working World,
13th International Conference on Remote Engineering and
Virtual Instrumentation (REV), 2015
[32] R. Meya, T. R. Ortelt, A. Selvaggio, S. Chatti, C. Becker,
A. E. Tekkaya, Development of a tele-operative control for
the incremental tube forming process and its integration into a
learning environment, IEEE Global Engineering Education
Conference (EDUCON), 2016
[33] C. Becker, K. Isik, A. Bayraktar, S. Chatti, M. Hermes, C.
Soyarslan, A.E. Tekkaya, Numerical Investigation of the
Incremental Tube Forming Process, Key Engineering
Materials 554–557, 2013, pp. 664–670.
[34] T. R. Ortelt, S. Pekasch, K. Lensing, P.-J. Guéno, D. May,
A.E. Tekkaya, Concepts of the International Manufacturing
Remote Lab (MINTReLab), IEEE Global Engineering
Education Conference (EDUCON), 2016
[35] L. Chittaro, F. Buttussi, Assessing Knowledge Retention of an
Immersive Serious Game vs. a Traditional Education Method
in Aviation Safety. IEEE transactions on visualization and
computer graphics 21 (4), 2015, S. 529–538.
[36] T. R. Ortelt, E. Ruider, Virtual Lab for Material Testing using
the Oculus Rift, 4th Experiment@International Conference
(exp.at'17), 2017
[37] J. Grodotzki, T. R. Ortelt, A. E. Tekkaya, Development of a
FEM-lab for the virtual experimentation in forming processes,
4th Experiment@International Conference (exp.at'17), 2017