The IMaR Research Centre at IT Tralee
has been awarded funding by Enterprise Ireland for a significant
investment into cutting-edge equipment for R&D in advanced
manufacturing. This new equipment will be made available to Irish
manufacturing companies to test and trial new technologies in
manufacturing via the IMaR Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateway, IMaR’s
outward facing industrial engagement division, based at IT Tralee.
In total, there were 43 successful applicants from the Institutes of
Technology (IoT) and TU Dublin to the value of €6 million, of which IMaR
have received 4 separate awards. The four funding awards include:
- A fleet of autonomous industrial vehicles
- A suite of industrial machinery monitoring equipment
- An industrial wireless communication technology testbed
- A high-performance industrial data-analytics server.
The development of the facility will allow IMaR to showcase current
advancements in machine connectivity, industrial wireless communication
and process automation and optimisation, along with providing a
trialling space for new technologies under development by the IMaR
Research Centre and partner companies.
Commenting on the funding announcement, Dr. Daniel Riordan, Manager
of IMaR Technology Gateway and Director for Industrial Engagement said,
“A key component of IMaR’s success in this funding call was its strong
track record in industry engagement, specifically meeting the needs of
the Irish Manufacturing sector. Funding for this testbed will allow
Irish manufacturing to remain at the cutting edge of manufacturing
efficiency, quality and profitability as the sector continues to
implement the concepts of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of
Things.”
Within IMaR this equipment will be combined to create an advanced
manufacturing technology testbed, focusing on the Industrial Internet of
Things (IIoT), which will open to Irish industry for the evaluation of
system capabilities or to work collaboratively with the IMaR Research
Centre on the research and development of new automation, robotics,
machine monitoring and Data Analytics technologies.
Dr. Pat Doody, Joint Principal Investigator and Director of Advanced
Studies of IMaR said “The award of this funding from Enterprise Ireland
further confirms IMaR’s place as the primary research centre in Ireland
for applied research into the Industrial Internet of Things. The funding
will facilitate IMaR in providing state of the art technologies which
will be made available to our current industry partners and will also be
instrumental in attracting further companies to avail of the expertise
offered by IMaR. This testbed will ensure that our partners continue to
compete at the cutting edge.”