For over a decade, thanks to the cooperation managed by Mit. Nano, Mit and Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC), one of the largest universities in Latin America, he cooperated to develop innovative academic and research initiatives, with particular emphasis on nanoscity and nanotechnology, and recently, emphasis on design and intelligent productions. Now cooperation has also expanded to include bachelor's education. Seven TEC students are developing methods of production of cheap, computer fiber or Freds devices, as well as peers in the MIT in the factory and learning “In-The-Lab”, Fred Factory.
“Fred Factory serves as a factory educational platform for the production of scaling, enabling students and researchers to engage first -hand in a transition from prototype development for small -scale production,” says Brian Anthony, director of the deputy and chief scientist at the Department of Mechanical Engineering MIT (Meche).
By learning in the campus, participants observe, analyze and actively contribute to this process, gaining key information on the complexity of scaling of production operations. The Fred Factory product is Freda sets – table production sets that produce fiber themselves and are used to teach intelligent production rules. “We are excited that students from Monterrey TEC here in myth, bringing new ideas and perspectives, and helping to develop these new ways of teaching production in both myth and tec,” says Anthony.
Fred Factory was originally built by a group of MIT graduates in 2022 as a master's thesis project in the Master of Engineering in Advanced Manufacturing and Design Program. They adapted and scaled the original design of the device, built by a student Anthony, David Kim, in something that could be produced in many units at much lower costs. The resulting computer design files have been made available to TEC de Monterrey for use by lecturers and students. Since the launch of Fred's curriculum in TEC in 2022, the myth co -organized two courses run by the TEC Faculty: “Mechatronics Design: (Re) Freda Project” and “Automation of production systems: Fred Factory Challenge”.
The new Bachelor Studies of TEC participate in Fred Factory Research submerges this academic year. Students engage in joint Fred in MIT projects, and then return to TEC to implement their knowledge – especially to repeat and implement what they learned, along with the launch of the new Fred factory at Tec de Monterrey this spring. The end goal is to fully integrate this project with the Mechatronics engineering curriculum in TEC, in which students learn automation and first -hand robotics through devices.
Russel Bradley, a PhD student supervised by Anthony, is the main Fred Factory project and works closely with Tec students.
“The Freds design and production process is an educational experience itself,” says Bradley. “Unlike a real factory, which would probably not accept students to experiment with machines, Fred Factory provides an environment in which you can struck and learn.”
TEC studios are divided into groups working on specific projects, including the development of the 4.0 education framework for Fred, Immersive Technology (AR) in the field of production operations, Givifing Advanced Manufacturing Education in Fred Factory and Immersive Cognitive Termina.
Sergio Siller Lobo is a TEC student who is working on the development of educational framework for Fred. He and other students are looking at the code so that the interface is more student -friendly and it is best to enable students to learn when working with devices. They focus especially on helping students in engaging in the topics of control systems, computer vision and the Internet of Things (IoT) both on a digital course where they develop and directly working with devices. The digital course can be presented by an instructor or autonomously performed by students.
“Students can learn theory with digital courses, as well as have access to practical, practical experience with the device,” says Siller Lobo. “You can have the best in both ways of learning, both practical and theoretical.”
Arik Gómez Horita, a student of TEC, who also worked on educational frames, says that technology, which currently exists in terms of teaching students with control systems, computer vision and IoT, is often very limited in terms of ability or quantity.
“The key aspect of Freds values is that we integrate all these concepts and education module in one device,” says Gómez Horita. “The introduction of Fred to the class is a breakthrough. Our main goal is to put Fred in the hands of the teacher, use him for all his teaching opportunities.”
After the students' return to Tec de Monterrey with the educational modules they developed, there will be workshops with Freds and opportunities for tec students to use their own creativity and iteration on devices.
“Fred is really a laboratory in a box, and one of the best things that Freds does is create data,” says Siller Lobo. “Finding new ways to obtain data from Fred gives them more value.”
Tec Ángel Alarcón and André Mendoza students are preparing to check if the MIT students will test Fred Factory, conducting simulation with the two main roles of engineer and operator. The operator's role gathers Freds at workstations that simulate the factory. The role of the engineer analyzes the data created on the factory side by the operator and tries to find ways to improve production.
“This is a very engaging way of teaching production systems,” says Alarcón. “Many students studying production, bachelor and even graduates, finish education, never going to the actual factory. Fred Factory gives students a valuable opportunity to find out what the factory is and experience the industry environment without having to leave the campus.”
Data obtained from the workstations – at this time of cycle and defects in the operation – will be used to teach various topics on production. Ultimately, Fred Factory in TEC will be used to compare the benefits and defects of automation compared to manual work.
Bradley says that TEC students bring a strong mechatronic background that add a lot of important information to the project, and outside the laboratory, it is also a valuable multicultural exchange.
“It's not just what students learn from us,” says Bradley, “but it is really a cooperation process in which we all complement each other.”
