New technologies, such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, wireless communications, etc., have already become part of our daily lives. This paper provides an insight into one of the new technologies, i.e., augmented reality (AR), as part of the manufacturing paradigm Industry 4.0 (I4.0). The aim of this paper is to contribute to the current state in the field of AR by assessing the main areas of the application of AR, the used devices and the tracking methods in support of the digitalization of the industry. Searches via Science Direct, Google Scholar and the Internet in general have resulted in the collection of a large number of papers. The examined works are classified according to several criteria and the most important data resulting from them are presented here. A comprehensive analysis of the literature has indicated the main areas of application of AR in I4.0 and, among these, those that stand out are maintenance, assembly and human robot collaboration. Finally, a roadmap for the application of AR in companies is proposed and the most promising future areas of research are listed.

Intravenous (IV) infusion therapy allows the infusion fluid to be inserted directly into the patient’s vein. It is used to place medications directly into the bloodstream or for blood transfusions. The probability that a hospitalized patient will receive some kind of infusion therapy, intravenously, is 60–80%. The paper presents a smart IV infusion dosing system for detection, signaling, and monitoring of liquid in an IV bottle at a remote location. It consists of (i) the sensing and computation layer—a system for detection and signaling of fluid levels in the IV bottle and a system for regulation and closing of infusion flow, (ii) the communication layer—a wireless exchange of information between the hardware part of the system and the client, and (iii) the user layer—monitoring and visualization of IV therapy reception at a remote location in real time. All layers are modular, allowing upgrades of the entire system. The proposed system alerts medical staff to continuous and timely changes of IV bottles, which can have positive effects on increasing the success of IV therapy, especially in oncology patients. The prescribed drip time of IV chemotherapy for the full effect of cytostatics should be imperative.

Control of a pneumatic actuator using pulse width modulation (control) represents a good alternative for control of pneumatic actuator that uses proportional valve. Important advantage of pulse width modulation control is fewer consumption of compressed air. In addition, air consumption can be further reduced by the use of inter-chamber cross flow (chamber bypassing). This article discusses joint application of pulse width modulation and bypass chamber control on the example of pneumatic rodless cylinder which is controlled by programmable logic controller. Saving of compressed air was experimentally determined, as well as the influence of inter-chamber cross flow on the quality of the control. With this application of pulse width modulation and bypass valve control, pneumatic actuator system shows that 30% of energy can be saved under the same working conditions in comparison to the traditional pulse width modulation control system.

Abstract-This paper presents an experimental setup called pneumatic circular manipulator. The manipulator represents a modular setup that can be adapted for the new testing by simple transformations. It is intended to be used for testing various types of pneumatic control and energy efficiency of pneumatic control systems. The manipulator is primarily designed for students and their lectures. Since it has the possibility for remote control over the Internet, due to its modularity, it can be very interesting for researchers and employees in industry. The existing version of the manipulator allows visual monitoring of the working cycle and familiarization with the basics of pneumatic control and motion control for users. By future upgrade, the manipulator will become a setup that will provide feedback on the consumption of compressed air, analysis of the type of control, cost-effectiveness analysis, etc.

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