The Industrial IOTA Lab Aachen

Co-Author: Ashri Anggia, Semjon Becker

Updated: January 2019

The Industrial IOTA Lab Aachen

The Industrial IOTA Lab Aachen (IILA) was established in April 2018 as a joint project of the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering WZL of RWTH Aachen University and senseering GmbH, a university spin-off.

IILA is a community driven laboratory which offers students, lecturers, industry representatives and enthusiasts research in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Economy, Machine-to-Machine communication, Distributed-Ledger-Technologies (mainly IOTA), and the Industrial Internet of Things.

Our team consists of doctoral students, technicians, graduate students and student assistants from the Laboratory of Machine Tools and Production Engineering. We are the first point of contact at RWTH Aachen University and we welcome independent collaborations that maybe interested in our research topics.

The IILA Showroom (video also available in German). Video: © WZL | Viktoria Haarman, Jan Primke & Wisam Zureik

Current Use Case

We are currently working on a use case using the industrial Feintool fine-blanking press XFT 2500speed. Our goal is to store a tamper-proof digital data record for each component produced by the fine-blanking tool and store it in the tangle via Masked Authenticated Messaging (MAM). Our clients can check the data integrity of the produced parts via website. For further information refer to article Status Report 01. (Note that XFT 2500speed may also be used to study related topics in the future).

Sending 500 workpieces to the Tangle. Video: © WZL | Daniel Trauth

Meet the team

The IILA team is constantly expanding and we are excited of the achievements we have made and the progress we are making.

The team as of April 2018. Image: © WZL | Daniel Trauth & Semjon Becker

As of January 2019 the IILA team consists of:

Ashri Anggia

Ashri worked as an IT System Administrator in Australia and UK. He holds a Bachelor degree in Information Technology. As of September he will be studying Management and Engineering in Technology, Innovation, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship at the RWTH Aachen University.
He has been supporting the IILA since 07/2018 as Business and Software Developer.
More info about Ashri can be found on LinkedIn.

Semjon Becker

Semjon is studying Mechanical Engineering at the RWTH Aachen University and majoring in Production Engineering.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 as Operation Coordinator, Design Engineer and Product Developer
He currently also is the Product Owner of the front-end developer team.
More info about Semjon on Medium.

Dimitrios Begnis

Dimitrios is studying Scientific Programming.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 as Full Stack Web Developer.
More info about Dimitrios on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Henric Breuer

Henric is a trained Mathematical-Technical Software Developer and studied Scientific Programming.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 as Operation Coordinator and Backend Developer.
More info about Henric can be found on WZL.

Andreas Feuerhack

Andreas studied Process Engineering in Chemnitz and holds a PhD in Production Engineering. He co-founded the working group AKF in 09/2016 and has been leading the group since 05/2018. He is our fine-blanking expert and the person to talk to for this matter.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 as Fine-blanking Advisor.
More info about Andreas on Xing.

Niklas Dahl

Niklas is studying Scientific Programming.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 as Full Stack Web Developer.

Muzaffer Hizel

Muzaffer is studying Business Administration focusing on Operations Research and Management.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 and is currently writing his master thesis about the digital transformation of value chains and the impact on established business models.
More info about Muzaffer can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Sascha Kamps

Sascha is a self-taught Data Engineer since 1995.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 with Data Acquisition, Data Management and System Engineering.
More info about Sascha can be found on Twitter.

Felix Mönckemeyer

Felix is studying Computer Science.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 as Operation Coordinator and Backend Developer.
He currently also is one of two Product Owners of the back-end developer team.
More info about Felix can be found on GitHub.

Patrick Mattfeld

Patrick studied Mechanical Engineering, holds a Master in Business Administration and a PhD in Production Engineering. He is the Founder of the working group AKF.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 as Executive Chief Engineer.
More info about Patrick can be found on Xing.

Philipp Niemietz

Philipp studied Computer Science and is currently working as a PhD student at the WZL.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 as Operation Coordinator and Computer Scientist.
More Info about Philipp can be found on WZL.

Tobias Springer

Tobias is studying Scientific Programming.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 as Full Stack Web Developer.

Joachim Stanke

Joachim studied Computational Engineering Science and is currently working as a PhD student.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 as Operation Coordinator and Full-Stack Developer.
More info about Joachim can be found on WZL.

Timo Thun

Timo is studying Mechanical Engineering with emphasis on Energy Engineering.
He has been supporting the IILA since 05/2018 as Backend Developer.

Daniel Trauth

Daniel studied both Mechanical Engineering and additionally Business Economics in Aachen and holds a PhD in Production Engineering. He co-founded the working group AKF in 09/2016
He founded the IILA and has been leading since 04/2018.
More info about Daniel can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and WZL.

Justus Ungerechts

Justus is studying Computer Science.
He has been supporting the IILA since 07/2018 as Master Student Assistant.

Trutz Wrobel

Trutz is studying Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering.
He has been supporting the IILA since 04/2018 as Operation Coordinator and Backend Developer.
He currently also is one of two Product Owners of the back-end developer team.

The WZL IT Department

A big thank you for everyone at WZL IT Department! Either because you are a network, system or help-desk administrator. You help us to do the things that matter the most!

Former members

Julian Bauer
Björn Fink
Maren Kranenberg
David Oudsandji
Anton Shirobokov

If you would like to join, contact us today! Please note: You are joining on a volunteer basis and without any compensation guaranteed. Unfortunately we do not accept new members as we would like to evaluate the current test phase. We are currently tinkering the concept for spatial and infrastructural scaling :-( We’d be happy to put you on a waiting list :-)

Organizational structure of the IILA

Head: Daniel Trauth founded the IILA. He strongly appreciates the SC’s help.
Steering Committee: The SC consists of its own IILA team members, which thus reflect a flat and independent structure. In SC, groundbreaking decisions are made for the IILA and a kind of start-up culture is conveyed.
Operation Coordinators: The OC develop IILA’s own processes and guidelines with the team and implements them together. The flat hierarchy is an essential strength of the IILA.
Advisory board: Andreas Feuerhack, and Patrick Mattfeld advise the IILA with valuable input and experience.
Supporters: Companies or individuals, that endorse the IILA works

Supporters of the IILA

The work of the IILA is informally endorsed by the working group fine-blanking AKF of the WZL of RWTH Aachen University. The AKF is a strategic research tool for innovative companies in the field of fine-blanking technology. The combination of fine-blanking experts and the expertise of companies from the fields of tooling, lubrication, materials and press technology creates an excellent basis for demanding joint research.

The IILA Showroom

At the Rotter Bruch location, we combine highly exciting research and practical innovations. Our industrial showroom offers use cases to observe and enjoy. With us you can experience IOTA live using an industrial fine-blanking machine. Come and visit to connect with our colleagues or guests.

Heart of our Showroom: the IOTA use case using the fine-blanking machine XFT 2500speed by Feintool: Image: © WZL | Peter Winandy

We’ve got what you need

Every laboratory needs appropriate tools. We’ve got what it needs to happen! Whether you are looking for a Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson TX2, Rock64IOTA, or Bosch XDK-Sensors. Join us and be part of the lab experience! We don’t mind creative chaos. Also: Bring you own device if you want. We are thrilled to see what others come up with!

Setup of a Raspberry Pi Hadoop Cluster. Image: © WZL | Daniel Trauth

Ever heard of Permanodes?

Do you need them? Do you want them? Who knows! However, we operate two local Rock64IOTA 120 GB full nodes, a third one is for experiments for Permanodes. Join us to derive a suitable concept! In addition, we will soon be running 6x DELL PowerEdge R730 servers with a total of 240 cores, 1.5 TB RAM, 320 TB HDD and 6 NVIDIA P100 GPUs. This is the place to bring #AI and #IOTA together!

Need computing resources? Try our DELLEMC PowerEdge R730. Image: © WZL | Tobias Kaufmann

Meetups and site tours

Meeting is the most efficient way to make valuable contacts and exchange knowledge. You can do so on our meetups and site tours. Just arrange time and date with us.

Upcoming visiting groups and meetups

Stay tuned for more information in the near future!

Former visiting groups and meetups

September 5th, 2018: Annual meeting of the AKF. Adient Components Ltd. & Co. KG, ART Fine Press Technics B.V., Böhler Edelstahl GmbH & Co. KG, Bosch Transmission Technology B.V., Brockhaus Stahl GmbH, C.D. Wälzholz KG, Carl Bechem GmbH, Ceratizit Deutschland GmbH, Dömer GmbH & Co. KG, DURA Automotive Systems Rotenburg GmbH, Egon Grosshaus GmbH & Co. KG, Feinstanz AG, Feintool System Parts Lyss AG, Feintool Technologie AG, Friedrich Henkel Feinmechanik KG, Fuchs Wisura GmbH, Heinz Hänggi GmbH, Holifa Fröhling GmbH & Co. KG, Hubert Stüken GmbH & Co. KG, Hugo Kern und Liebers GmbH & Co. KG, Hydrel AG, Karl Scharrenbroich GmbH & Co. KG, Malvestiti S.P.A., Mendtrizki Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Mubea Tellerfedern GmbH, Platit AG, Precision Resource Inc., Raziol Zibulla & Sohn GmbH, Sanjo Fineblanking, Scherdel Feinschneidtechnik GmbH, Selzer Fertigungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, technotrans AG, Teckentrup GmbH & Co. KG, Thyssenkrupp Hohenlimburg GmbH, voestalpine Stahl GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
July 25th, 2018: Aachener Nachrichten and Aachener Zeitung together with 25 handpicked subscribers

The IILA supporters visiting the Rotter Bruch showroom in June 2018. Image: © WZL | Andreas Feuerhack

July 19th, 2018 (see tweet): BMW Group
June 29th, 2018 (see tweet): QASS GmbH Quality Automation Systems Software, sourcewerk GmbH, and Zenit GmbH
June 27th, 2018 (see tweet): Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH
June 19th, 2018 (see tweet): Adient Components Ltd. & Co. KG, ARKU Maschinenbau GmbH, voestalpine Böhler Edelstahl GmbH & Co. KG, Egon Grosshaus GmbH & Co. KG, Erdrich Umformtechnik GmbH, Feintool System Parts Lyss AG, Finova Feinschneidtechnik GmbH, FUCHS WISURA GmbH, GMA Metall GmbH, H. & E. Büschel GmbH, High Precision Components Witten GmbH, HOERBIGER Antriebstechnik GmbH, KERN-LIEBERS CR spol. s.r.o., Karl Scharrenbroich GmbH + Co. KG, Meteor Umformtechnik GmbH & Co. KG, Mubea Tellerfedern GmbH, Sanjo Corte Fino, Saxonia Umformtechnik GmbH, SCHERDEL Feinschneidtechnik GmbH, TIM PAVLIN d.o.o., and ZF Friedrichshafen AG
June 14th, 2018 (see tweet): Meetup and PhD defense about Machine Economy — audit trails in decentralized supply chains

Meetup and PhD defense about Machine Economy. Image: © WZL | Daniel Trauth

June 13th, 2018 (see tweet): DellEMC
June 07th, 2018 (see tweet): grandcentrix GmbH
April, 18th, 2018: DSI Getränkearmaturen GmbH, Flamm GmbH, GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH, hebro chemie Rockwood Specialties Group GmbH, and Heinrich Huhn GmbH & Co. KG

IOTA Evangelist Network

The IILA would like to give special mention for the IOTA Evangelist Network ‘s (IEN) support. Since April 2018, Daniel is a proud IEN evangelist and since May 2018, he is also IEN’s Admissions Head.

IEN evangelists are people who build critical mass of support for the IOTA technology, and subsequently establish IOTA as a technical standard within the global market. If you want to be an Evangelist, join the IEN and apply now.

IOTA Ecosystem

The IILA is a proud participant of the IOTA Ecosystem and is very happy about the trust and support given. Check the Ecosystem for further Information.

However, the IILA is an independent community that does not act on behalf of the IOTA Foundation. The IILA elaborates independently and neutrally for the possibilities and limits of distributed ledger technologies and machine economy in general, using our fine-blanking press as an example.

Screenshot of the Ecosystem Project Page. Image: © WZL | Semjon Becker

IOTA Lab Community Blueprint

The IILA will adopt the IOTA Community driven Lab Blueprint once Akita Blockchain Solutions comes with a first proposal. Please support the IOTA Lab Blueprint project.

Donations to the IILA

The IILA is a non-profit community. We appreciate every help we can get.YAEIESUZBAQNKACLQOIHWZMWEGOCBGSYXSCMBUXXQOXNZUPU9QGEKZWMCMXKSTATAVS9EFHMLW9IRNYKDBXUAOK9DZ

Check our address on thetangle.org.

Get in contact

Do you have questions or want to join/contribute in any way? Ask for Daniel or write an E-Mail | Follow me on Twitter | Or check WZL’s webpage.