The Finns built a goal-oriented policy of lifelong guidance, which promotes not only the climate of constant learning, but also the development of knowledge and skills. The Finnish success is related to the changes in the contemporary world. It relies on the perfect recognition of skills and competences, which are needed in society of the future due to the different working conditions, which students and employees of XXI century have to face.

The objective of the research was to develop the Attitude Control System algorithm to be implemented in the Earth Observation Satellite System composed of leader-follower formation. The main task of the developed Attitude Control System is to execute attitude change manoeuvres required to point the axis of the image acquisition sensor to the fixed target on the Earth’s surface, while the satellite is within the segment of an orbit, where image acquisition is possible. Otherwise, the satellite maintains a nadir orientation. The control strategy is realized by defining the high-level operational modes and control laws to manage the attitude control actuators: magnetorquers used for desaturation of the reaction wheels and reaction wheels used for agile attitude variation. A six-degree-of-freedom satellite model was used to verify whether the developed Attitude Control System based on PID controllers for actuators performs attitude control in line with the requirements of an Earth Observation System. The simulations done for a variety of combinations of orbital parameters and surface target positions proved that the designed Attitude Control System fulfils the mission requirements with sufficient accuracy This high-level architecture supplemented by a more detailed control system model allowed proving efficient functionalities performance.

The paper presents a method for dimensional synthesis of a five-rod guiding mechanism for the front wheels of a car. The goal is to find some unknown coordinates of joint centers of three suspension rods on the basis of given input data describing selected coordinates of other points, rods lengths and desired suspension characteristics for jounce-rebound and steering displacements. The synthesis problem is formulated as a single-criteria optimization procedure with a few substages solved in hierarchical order. The procedures for position and displacement analysis of the spatial multilink mechanism and for determination of the screw axes are also described. A numerical example for the AUDI A4 front ax.le is given.

This paper stipulates several technological research and development thrusts that can assist in modern day approaches to simulated training of minimally invasive laparoscopic and robot surgery. Basic tenets of such training are explained, and specific areas of research are enumerated. Specifically, augmented and mixed reality are proposed as a means of improving perceptual and clinical decision-making skills, haptics are proposed as mechanism not only to provide force feedback and guidance, but also as a means of reflecting a tactile feel of surgery in simulated training scenarios. Learning optimization is discussed to fine tune the difficulty levels of various exercises. All the above elements can serve as the foundation for building computer-based virtual coaching environments that can reduce the training costs and provide a broader access to learning highly complex, technology driven surgical techniques.