MANULAB is a national research infrastructure for state-of-the-art manufacturing research.
With 11 laboratories, MANULAB comprises advanced scientific equipment and facilities, and will in addition contain a scientific database and e-infrastructure. The laboratories are open for all researchers and industry in Norway (within the limits of state funding/ESA regulations).
Sensors and cameras will connect all physical equipment and the four geographical locations in a MANULAB Industry 4.0 implementation, also known as a Cyber-Physical Manufacturing System (CPMS) to form one united virtual laboratory. Digital twin, “Internet of Things”-functionality and remote supervision and control will make physical presence less important, and researchers can remotely follow (and control) experiments and collaborate with the on-site technicians.
Manufacturing is by nature cross-disciplinary combining knowledge from material science, manufacturing technology, like robotics and mathematical modelling, as well as organisational management and leadership. This interdisciplinary nature is reflected in the infrastructure which is expected to strengthen the research expertise in these areas.
Research data and metadata will be collected through a data acquisition system, and stored and shared through the MANULAB Scientific database using Sigma2 NorStore and other services as powerful tools to increase research quality, sharing and validating research data.