Hi Rafal. At the beginning, tell us something about yourself. How long have you been working on programming? What made you choose this career?
Hi, Contrary to what it looks like, this is a complex question. Basics of programming - we are still talking about C-language. I gained in courses for those interested in high school, technical college, which I graduated as a mechatronic technician. These competences - because I would not like to speak here simply about "interests", this is something different for me - I developed then in college. That's when I started to create more complex projects, and hence: make full use of the advantages of object-oriented programming and higher-order programming languages such as C ++, C #, .Net, Javascript and Python.
Exactly. You often emphasize that programming is not simply "interest" or passion for you. Can you expand this topic a bit?
First of all: I would not like to be labelled as the next IT freak or programmer. I am firmly on the ground in this matter. Creating applications or, more broadly, solving problems that require a programming approach is both my interest and part of my work. However, it is also a responsible occupation, especially when engineering issues are also involved. Working on a product intended for the end customer requires broad competence; often these are skills that are associated with everything but not programming.
What skills are these?
Among others: soft skills related to communication. I believe that when working on an industrial product - the product of Industry 4.0 - communication skills come to the front. I think about it in a broad sense: from cooperation with the team to interface design, both for non-technical users and other programmers.
Coming back to college for a moment. Is there any project you created at that time that you are still "particularly" proud of?
Particularly proud? No; not necessarily. Or maybe differently: I am proud of every really "closed" topic; every project that I manage to finish. However, I am not vain. I approach responsibility for working with technology above all.
The things I work with nowadays are much more complex than the ones I created in my student days or just after college. However, I was very interested (and still arouse) in issues related to vision systems and computer image processing and analysis. However, if I were to talk about a specific project: I developed my time an application that - using a computer camera - enabled the mouse cursor to be controlled with the help of hand movements. Initially, I used it mainly for fun, for example in computer games. Over time, however, I developed this project, matching it also to "more serious" applications - such as tracking the movements of the hands to control the manual assembly process using an application with the implemented convolution neural network.
I have also worked on many other - often much larger and more ambitious - projects. Not to be beaten: I owe a lot to Balluff. It may sound like banality, but it is a job that allows me to be in direct contact with the latest technologies, especially industrial ones. At any time, I also have access to reliable information on the further direction of development of this industry.
Are you currently working on such a project?
Yes!
BCM - can you tell us something more about it?
I can. That Balluff is working on BCM is no secret. We are not pioneers in this field. Earlier, attempts were made to develop a similar solution, they worked on such products. In the work on the BCM module, we are guided by the principle of "evolution" rather than "revolution". Our device is to be primarily a response to the needs of business, not the ambitions of programmers.
What are these needs? What makes BCM a "special" device?
I repeat: I would not call it "special". Rather: innovative. But in a business sense.
First of all, and this suggests to me first, so far the measurement of various parameters most often involved the need to use many sensors, different to measure each of the quantities. This, in turn, translated into the complexity of the entire system, higher costs, including those related to maintenance or conservation, as well as, perhaps most importantly from the business point of view (and in any case: the installation of sensors), the size of the devices themselves, equipment complexes. In our opinion, this is a problem: not only an engineering but also a design problem. And such problems should be solved.
The BCM is a small device, which in itself is an achievement. However, the specific solutions used in it are much more interesting. The module has IO-Link interface, which allows for very easy pairing with any control system and, thus, digitizing data obtained from the sensor. Digitization can take place in various IT environments, which I personally think is a significant step towards Industry 4.0 and IoT systems. However, the basic business goals are clear: increasing the possibilities of condition monitoring and precision of predictive maintenance. Put simply: savings. Potentially very large.
Speaking of simple words : how big are - in simple words - the possibilities of this module?
Compared with traditional solutions? Given the amount and variety of signals received by the module: they are really very large. Big enough that we cannot predict all of its uses yet. Work on the module is still ongoing.
Does your work with the BCM sensor present a particular challenge compared to your previous engineering ventures? How is it different from the things you did before? What is similar - which elements of previous experience can you use?
It's a hard question. It seems to me that the most important differences are that my previous projects were primarily, so to speak, "ready-made projects": applications created within a single IT environment. They were, for example, vision systems created using 3D cameras (e.g. Microsoft Kinect cameras not to look too far). However, the biggest challenge in working on BCM was to combine the functionality of several environments: UDP and MQTT communication in NodeRed, the InfluxDB cloud database, Grafan visualization tool, etc. Previous experience enabled me to quickly obtain the required knowledge; I was also familiar with other solutions available on the market. Initial work on BCM, however, required much more flexibility than previous projects, also because
What, as far as you can tell, was your role in the project so far? And what tasks do you have before you - and in the long run?
Largely on communication with colleagues from other development departments. Among others from the USA and Germany, where the sensor was developed from the hardware and firmware side. There were numerous changes at short intervals, mainly from the firmware side, which required constant updates of the sensor software and, consequently, changes in the concept of working with the sensor.
The work on my side consisted mainly of developing a solution enabling data collection and visualization of the results of their analysis. Everything using network services, necessarily with secure remote access, so as to enable other algorithms - often working on other servers - to control the process and make calculations in the cloud.
As I mentioned, it required a lot of flexibility. And communication skills.
You mentioned Industry 4.0 several times. What challenges does the "new industrial revolution" pose for engineers?
It requires above all knowledge and competence. And, more importantly, the ability to quickly acquire new knowledge - and new competences. The characteristics of the work of an engineer in the face of the fourth industrial revolution should be based on this skill.
Working with the BCM module is a good example. It is a challenge that requires us to constantly reach for new information - while keeping the needs of business in mind. This is a responsible task, but so is the new industry.
