A World First – Learning Factory Mining 4.0 at RWTH

Innovative teaching on the topic of sustainable raw material extraction.

The world's first Learning Factory Mining 4.0 is currently being created at RWTH’s Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies – AMT, headed by Professor Elisabeth Clausen. The project is being realized thanks to funding from the non-profit Ulrich-Thiele Foundation. The format is a hands-on approach to learning following the concept of the Learning Factory, which is used in the context of challenges facing the Internet of Things in manufacturing technology. This implicates technological elements of a largely digitalized mining environment being realized and vividly presented as digital elements, thus enabling participants to study independently. The aim is to contribute to the training of future specialists and managers with modern, competence-oriented teaching that prepares them for diverse challenges in their careers. Over the next five years, more than 500,000 euros will be invested in establishing the Learning Factory, with the Ulrich-Thiele Foundation providing the majority of the funding.

The implementation of the project will see the institute undergo renovations in order to create a multi functional and multi sensory teaching and learning environment in physical form. Further, mobile cyber-physical modules will be developed for courses offered at AMT, both for classes and self-study, promoting project-based and research-based learning. With this approach, AMT is contributing to modern and future-oriented education for a sustainable raw material supply as a direct prerequisite for technological advancements.

Source: Press and Communications