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

计算、通信和制造技术的最新进展为以低成本高效地生产定制的高质量零部件提供了可能性，特别是在医疗、能源、航空航天和家用电器行业。定制制造机器在售货亭中独立运行，可能在家庭用品商店内，由非技术劳动力操作，可以实现广泛的零售客户使用。这一愿景面临的一个主要挑战是当前3D打印过程中质量损失的高成本。质量保证的突破性方法，类似于影印部门所取得的成就，对于部署定制制造技术作为服务亭是必要的。与大批量制造不同，实时控制对于将定制制造系统部署为服务至关重要。设计和计划一个从各种材料中实现任意几何特征的生产过程是不现实的。这个探索性研究的早期概念拨款(AGIRE)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-折弯-折叠(Kirigami)操作从板材前驱体创建自定义部件。Kirigami机床由激光切割机、带成形工具的机械臂和分度器组成。与目前用于定制制造的3-D打印模式相比，它具有显著的优势，因为片材前体更便宜、更容易处理，只需几分钟而不是几个小时就可以制造包括大型轻型功能部件在内的复杂部件。该项目的方法结合了CPS、被动无线传感、低延迟通信和数字图像关联方面的最新进展，以实现实时质量保证。板材前驱体将嵌入热致变色颗粒，以便在板材成形时，这些颗粒充当一群移动无源传感器，使用摄像机以前所未有的粒度估计工艺状态(主要是温度和变形场)，并合成控制规律来调整工艺参数和执行器运动，以缓解质量问题。这与目前关于使用粉末而不是基于板材的工艺的网络制造的想法是不同的，并且利用基于动态CPS的协调，使用基于新型的基于群的传感器而不是静态的开环计划。新的被动群体感知技术在分解过程变量方面具有潜在的巨大进步。主要研究人员将解决与放置摄像机以从动态传感器捕获信息相关的挑战，解决闭塞、对即将发生的故障进行快速预测以及使用不确定的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形公司合作，开发一种概念验证机器。他们在复杂几何的Morse理论精确kirigami构造和板材折叠力学方面的经验将被用来计划kirigami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.