EAGER: Cybermanufacturing: Design and analysis of a cyberphysical systems approach for custom manufacturing kiosks

最近在计算、通信和制造技术方面取得的进展，使人们有可能具有成本效益地生产定制的高质量部件，特别是在医疗、能源、航空航天和消费电器行业。由非技术人员操作的在售货亭（可能在家居用品商店内）独立操作的定制制造机器可以使零售客户广泛使用。这一愿景面临的主要挑战是当前3d打印过程中质量损失的高成本。在质量保证方面取得突破性进展，类似于影印行业所取得的成就，是部署定制制造技术作为服务亭的必要条件。与大批量制造不同，实时控制对于部署定制制造系统作为服务至关重要。从各种各样的材料中设计和规划一个生产过程来实现任意的几何特征是不现实的。这个探索性研究（EAGER）早期概念项目探索了一种新型机床系统的核心实时控制问题，该系统使用一系列切割弯曲折叠（kirigami）操作，从板材前体中创建定制组件。kirigami机器由激光切割机、带成形工具的机械臂和分度仪组成。与目前定制制造的3d打印范例相比，它具有显著的优势，因为片状前体更便宜，更容易处理，而且只需几分钟，而不是几小时就能制造出包括大型轻质功能部件在内的复杂部件。该项目的方法结合了CPS、无源无线传感、低延迟通信和数字图像相关的最新进展，以保证实时质量。薄片前体将嵌入热致变色颗粒，这样当薄片成形时，这些颗粒就像一群移动的被动传感器，它们的瞬时位置和变形可以用相机识别，以前所未有的粒度估计工艺状态（主要是温度和变形场），并合成控制律来调整工艺参数和执行器运动，以减轻质量问题。这与目前人们对网络制造的想法不同，使用粉末而不是基于薄片的工艺，并利用基于动态CPS的协调，采用新颖的基于群的传感器，而不是静态开环规划。这种新型的被动群体传感技术在分解过程变量方面具有巨大的潜力。主要研究人员将解决与摄像机位置相关的挑战，以捕获动态传感器的信息，解决诸如遮挡，即将发生的故障的快速预测以及使用不确定图像数据优化控制行动等问题。他们正在与当地一家板材成型公司合作，开发一种概念验证机器。他们在复杂几何的莫尔斯理论精确基里格米构造和薄片折叠力学方面的经验将用于规划基里格米操作和描绘可实现的几何。

Recent advances in computing, communication and manufacturing technologies promise the possibility of cost-effective production of custom, high quality components especially in medical, energy, aerospace and consumer appliance industry. Custom manufacturing machines operating standalone in kiosks, possibly within home supply stores, operated by a non-technical workforce may enable broad retail customer use. A major challenge to this vision is the high cost of quality loss in the current 3-D printing processes. Breakthrough approaches for quality assurance, similar to what the photocopying sector has achieved, are necessary to deploy custom manufacturing technologies as service kiosks. Unlike in high volume manufacturing, real-time control is essential for deploying custom manufacturing systems as a service. It is unrealistic to design and plan a production process to realize arbitrary geometric features from a wide variety of materials. This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project explores real-time control issues at the core of a novel machine tool system for creating custom components from sheet precursors using a sequence of cut-bend-fold (kirigami) operations. A kirigami machine consists of a laser cutter, a robotic arm with a forming tool, and an indexer. It offers significant advantages over the current 3-D printing paradigms for custom manufacturing, as sheet precursors are cheaper and easier to handle, and it takes just minutes versus hours to create complex parts including large lightweight functional components.The project's approach combines recent advances in CPS, passive wireless sensing, low latency communications and digital image correlation for real-time quality assurance. The sheet precursors will be embedded with thermochromics particles so that as the sheet is being shaped, the particles serve as a swarm of mobile passive sensors whose instantaneous location and distortion are discerned using cameras to estimate the process state (mainly temperature and deformation fields) at unprecedented granularity, and control laws synthesized to tune process parameters and actuator motion to mitigate quality issues. This is a departure from the currently held thoughts on Cybermanufacturing using powder rather than sheet based process, and leverages dynamic CPS based coordination employing novel swarm based sensors instead of static open-loop planning. The novel passive swarm sensing is potentially a huge advancement in disaggregating process variables. The principal investigators will address the challenges associated with placement of cameras to capture information from dynamic sensors, addressing issues such as occlusions, fast prognostication of impending faults, and optimization of control actions using uncertain image data. They are working with a local sheet forming firm to develop a proof of concept machine. Their experiences in Morse theoretic exact kirigami construction of complex geometries, and sheet folding mechanics will be employed to plan kirigami operations and delineate attainable geometries.