The problem addressed by the invention is to operate an electrical component (16) in a cyber-physical system (22). The adapter device (36) provided according to the invention for coupling the component (16) to a data network (20) of the cyber-physical system (22) comprises: a communication unit (40) which is designed to receive defined request data (24) from the data network (20) independently of the component; an interpretation unit (50) which is designed to determine a command (68) executable using the technical features of the component (16) depending on the request data (24); an assessment unit (52) which is designed to generate a potential solution (70) to the command (68) comprising at least one control signal (32) for the component (16) depending on operating data of the component (16); and a controller (66) which is designed to issue the at least one control signal (32) of the potential solution (70) to a control interface (30) of the component (16).