Niko Herakovič is a professor and a Head of chair of Manufacturing Technologies and systems as well as a Head of the Laboratory LASIM, University of Ljubljana. He received his PhD in 1995 from the Technical University of RWTH in Aachen, Germany. He was guest lecturer in several foreign universities and has worked with more than 15 foreign companies in various research and R&D projects. The scientific work and bibliography of the candidate comprises more than 530 bibliographic units. Between 1996 and 2019 he actively worked or has led more than 40 different projects with foreign and domestic research or industrial partners and has two international patents (EU and USA). In recent years, he has been working on several basic and applied research and industrial projects related to automation of Handling and Assembly processes, Smart Factories, Industry 4.0, Production systems, Machine vision, fluid power and mechatronics. 

Marko Šimic is an assistant professor and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. He defended his PhD. (Characterisation and modelling of a hydraulic digital piezovalve) at the UL, FME, in 2013. The scientific work and bibliography of the candidate comprises 156 bibliographic units. He was responsible for the postdoctoral project financed by ARRS. In addition, he has participated in a number of research and R&D projects in the field of smart mechatronic components. His main research and expertise fields are hydraulics and pneumatics (closed-loop control, advanced control algorithms) modelling and simulation of mechatronic and production systems and processes. The second important area presents the development of advanced hydraulic and pneumatic components, piezo technology, high-response fluid control valves (DFCU – digital fluid control unit composed of on/off piezo valves), which are the most important components to achieve high-response and accurate positioning of hydraulic and pneumatic linear drives. 

Mihael Debevec is an assistant and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. He defended his PhD., “Modelling of tools handling in manufacturing for digital environment”, at the UL, FME, in 2010. His main research and expertise fields are the logistic of resources in the production process, modelling and simulation and also handling and assembly systems, development of digital twins. Debevec is the author or co-author of several scientific papers in recognized international journals. The scientific work and bibliography of the candidate comprises 532 bibliographic units. With his scientific achievements, he has attended international conferences, such as INCOM, IFAC ACS, MMA, ICIT & MPT. In 2005 and then from 2007 to 2018, he is a member of the scientific board and editor of the Proceedings of expert consultation Automation of Handling and Assembly. He has participated in national and international projects, such as Eureka, CrossInno and Tempus. 

Miha Pipan is an assistant and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. He defended his PhD. at the UL, FME, in 2016. Miha Pipan has been working on several international R&D and industrial projects in different fields: development of algorithms for object detection with machine vision and its use in assembly and automation, research on robot control algorithms based on neural networks, development of process equipment for metal-polymer products production for the European project Eureka, development of simulation and optimization of production lines in the company, development of an advanced control algorithm for pneumatic muscles and other nonlinear systems, development of digital twins, VR and AR technology. He is also the author or co-author of several scientific papers in recognized international journals and has attended many international conferences.

Hugo Zupan is a PhD student and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. In 2019, he received his PhD in Production Engineering - Design of Production Systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UL, FME). His main research and expertise fields are the logistic of resources in the production process, modelling and simulation (development of digital twins, digital agents as intelligent control and prediction algorithms). He is responsible for the implementation of simulation models and digital twins in many of the industrially based projects. The implemented simulation models solve practical logistical problems in the field of production, handling and assembly, including the capacity of intermediate storages and flow of material in storages.

Andrej Kos is a researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. He received his BSc at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 2005. He participated in a number of research and industrial projects in the fields of robotics, computer vision and automation. He is a co-author of several scientific papers and has attended many international conferences. He has experience with programming robots, microcontrollers and computer vision applications.

Matevž Resman is a PhD student and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. In 2016, he received his MSc in Production Engineering - Design of Production Systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UL, FME). His main research and expertise fields are architectural model of smart factories (methodology for planning smart factory) and defining input data for designing the digital factory. The developed methodology shortens the time for planning smart factory and guides you step by step to implement the key technology of Industry 4.0.

Jernej Protner is a PhD student and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. In 2017, he received his MSc in Production Engineering - Design of Production Systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UL, FME). His main research and expertise fields are development of advanced control algorithms for flexible pneumatic muscle actuators, development of intelligent algorithms and applications for concluding specific operations in a network of distributed nodes in Smart factory and development of intelligent algorithms for automatic simulation model generation and reconfiguration based on real system's changes. 

Maja Turk is a PhD student and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. In 2016, she received her M.Sc in Production Engineering - Design of Production Systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UL, FME). Her fields of expertise includes modelling and simulation of virtual human, optimization of material flow in the production processes, optimization of value flow and economic effects of implementations. She has participated in national industrial project Slovenian Case Challenge ´15 and has attended several international conferences.

Rok Živec is a researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. In 2019, he received his M.Sc in Production Engineering - Production Technologies and systems at UL, FME. His research and expertise fields are digitalization of manufacturing systems, development and modelling of digital twins with integrated optimization algorithms, discrete event simulations of manufacturing processes and systems, off-line programming and simulation of robot handling operations.

Denis Jankovič is a PhD student and researcher in the Laboratory for Handling, Assembly and Pneumatics at the UL, FME. In 2018, he received his M.Sc in Production Engineering - Design of Production Systems at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (UL, FME). His main fields are: new concepts of smart hydraulic presses, smart modelling, simulation and optimization of hydraulic systems and processes, AI based intelligent control and decision-making algorithms, smart sensors and efficient visualization of processes.