Maq’IT: Robotics & IoT Prototyping Platform

The Maq’IT platform is a robotics and IoT prototyping environment designed to experiment, study, and train on the challenges of industry and territories of the future. Developed within the Henri Fayol Institute, it relies on an open, heterogeneous, and modular infrastructure, designed to facilitate the development of demonstrators and the creation of proofs of concept.

Maq’it platform website

Objectives and areas of expertise

Maq’it is committed to transforming production constraints into performance levers through four major pillars:

Production agility
Design of flexible production systems capable of adapting quickly to demand variations and product customization.
Collaborative robotics (cobotics)
Integration of robots working in direct interaction with operators to reduce physical strain and increase the precision of assembly tasks.
Digital Twin & simulation
Creation of digital twins to simulate production flows, optimize scheduling, and predict the behavior of the physical system.
Operator 4.0
Use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to assist technicians in assembly, maintenance, and training operations.

Methodology and services offered

Maq’IT supports teams (research, training, partners) through a rapid prototyping approach:

Testing, measurement, and iterations
Execution of scenarios, analysis of results, adjustments, and consolidation of the demonstrator (incremental approach).
Use case and scenario scoping
Definition of objectives, robotics/IoT path, expected data, and evaluation criteria.
Prototyping and integration
Assembly of components (robots, conveyor, sensors, software), development, and configuration (ROS/AI/interoperability).

Equipment and environment

The platform provides a range of robotic and connected equipment, including:

Poppy Ergo Jr (open-source robotics, 3D printing, Python)
TurtleBot3 (Burger & Waffle) for mobile robotics (ROS)
Interbotix robotic arms (Pincher & Widow) ROS/Arduino compatible
Niryo Ned (6-axis collaborative arm, educational focus)
Connected conveyor to simulate a production line (with or without robots)

Collaborations and projects

Maq’IT complements the It’m Factory and Territoire platforms and aims to facilitate the promotion of research and training work by supporting agile and incremental development of demonstrators.
The platform also allows for the construction of scenarios using a city-industry model at the scale of the robots (useful for “industry/territory” use cases).