This paper presents the most important principles and features of construction and operation of the interuniversity scientific and educational network. This network is created for training of engineers in the field of automation, robotics and mechatronic systems. There were four main components of the distance education realized in the network. 1. Lectures in special disciplines were delivered by the leading professors, special educational materials in the form of electronic resources (in several languages) were used for the lectures. These electronic resources contained many demonstration examples illustrating implementation of the studied theoretical material in practice. 2. The laboratory classes in these disciplines were done with a remote use of the laboratory facilities available to all the network participants. 3. The remote education in the project design is based on the results already received during implementation of real scientific and commercial projects (including for industrial application). These projects were realized during the Russian federal target programs and grants (Russian Scientific Foundation and Russian Foundation for Basic Research). 4. Various production practices related to the laboratory and industrial equipment available in the Universities, which participated in the network, were provided. Also the paper contains certain features of the software and hardware implementation for the remote work with the laboratory and industrial equipment in the network. Several examples are presented of the laboratory work and project design done by the students remotely participating in the network.

This paper presents the results of research on the development of technology for supervisory control of mechatronic devices through the Internet. We propose a hierarchical structure for the management of a group of mobile robots (a group of mechatronic devices) by combining their information-measuring and control systems into a local area network. The main requirements to the functional structure of these systems are formulated. The development of a spatially distributed control system involves a number of problems associated with peculiarities of the use of digital radio and Internet channels. These problems can be treated by creating specialized software and hardware tools, such as the spatially distributed scientific and educational Internet-laboratory proposed in this paper. The laboratory can be used to organize full-fledged access to specific mechatronic systems of different models and different producers through the Internet. The main requirements for the implementation of this laboratory are formulated through the use of the “concept of drivers”. The architecture and technical implementation of the pilot project of this laboratory are described. The driver concept designed for incorporating the mechatronic devices into the structure of the laboratory is demonstrated by the example of the AMUR and Festo Robotino robots.The work was supported by the Russian Academy of Engineering, project “Intelligent Robotronics” and partially by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project nos. 13-07-01032 and 13-07-00988.

We describe new educational technology (project “Intelligent Robotronics”) designed as a spatially distributed virtual network for the remote training of engineers, humanitarians, marine specialists, and IT-professionals (all courses involve real mechatronic devices). Mobile robots and mechatronic devices in different cities and universities are incorporated into the virtual network laboratory on the basis of VPN-tunnels through the Internet by special network software. This software was designed for supervising control of robotic systems and remote dynamic reprogramming for all elements in the network from any location. It serves as a basis for robotics software R&D of different manufacturers (AMUR, Robotino, etc.) and may be used for SLAM tasks and supervision control for mechatronic devices via channels with unpredictable delays. The considered problem is how to create the intelligent level of the software, find an adequate knowledge representations and evidences for mobile robots, based on mathematical logic, and suggested IGEC technology.

The neurophysiological prerequisites for the development and operation of the brain-computer interfaces (BCI) that allow cerebral electrical signals alone to control external technical devices are considered. A BCI based on the discrimination of the EEG patterns related to imagery of extremity movements is described. The possibility of the rehabilitation of patients with motor disorders by means of the BCI based on motor imagery and the exoskeleton controlled by it is discussed.