WorldSkills is an international professional skills competition and the largest event of its kind in Poland.  Every two years the best participants take part in the World Championships, which are held in different parts of the globe (In 2022 the World Championships will be held in Shanghai).  The organization itself currently unites 85 countries, having already organized 45 editions of the competition.  Among the competition categories were, organized for the first time in Poland: Industry 4.0, Computing Cloud, Cyber Security and Mobile Robotics.  The final of the competition took place on June 2, 2021 in Lublin.

National preliminaries

 The students had to go through national qualifiers before winning.  This task consisted of 3 phases:

• The implementation of the assumed sequence of control using a programmable logic controller PLC. The control object  was a section of a production line used to make four holes in a component.  The production line module came from the Festo training factory.  It is an arrangement of several/multiple modules prepared to provide training in control, diagnostics, communication, etc.  as part of Industry 4.0.
• Communication with intelligent measuring transducers of flow and pressure of compressed air feeding the production line. Based on the data, students were tasked with proposing predictive diagnostic algorithms to detect faults such as pneumatic system leaks.
• Communication between the controller realizing diagnostic functions and control functions with the use of TCP/IP protocol and realization of the proposed diagnostic algorithms.

On the way to victory

 The proposal of participation in the competition was given to members of the Circle by  Arkadiusz Winnicki PhD (Faculty of Mechatronics).  As members of the Circle, we felt that taking part in WorldSkills was a fantastic opportunity to develop our interests, to continue to improve our skills and to gain valuable experience.  The competition also provides an opportunity to meet people from other universities and experts in the industrial automation industry.  Of course, all the time in the back of our minds we were thinking about the main prize, that is the possibility of a huge distinction in the form of representing Poland during the international competition taking place in Shanghai.  – the students say.

For students majoring in Automation and Robotics, the natural choice was the Industry 4.0 competition.  This is the concept that is presented in the course of studies and implemented during labs.  One of the key skills is PLC programming, and on the basis of this course in the current semester, students realized the complex project that provided an important starting point for further development of this skill.

As the students say, an equally important part of the preparation is the activity in the Scientific Circle.  SC Humanoid mainly deals with issues related to robotics, but also automation issues.  The activity in the Scientific Circle and the experience in teamwork, allowed us to understand how to work together in order to achieve the desired goal, i.e. the realisation of the project. In addition to the knowledge that comes directly from university classes, a lot of time and work is required to expand your substantive knowledge and refine your skills.