PFI:BIC: Smart Factories -An Intelligent Material Delivery System to Improve Human-Robot Workflow and Productivity in Assembly Manufacturing

制造业占美国所有就业人数的四分之一。为了转移工作岗位，改善运营，招聘、留住和再培训熟练工人，公司越来越多地使用机器人技术。理想情况下，机器人不会取代人类，而是与人类合作提高生产率。然而，大多数工业机器人没有很好地融入人类工作流程，导致代价高昂的停工问题(每小时170万美元)、工人压力和人才流失。该项目的研究目标是通过设计新的方法来改善装配制造中的人-机器人工作流程和生产率，从而解决这一问题。智能材料交付系统(IMDS)将与手动工作过程紧密结合并提供支持。该项目将研究这一研究领域的创新、多学科方法，极大地推动智能制造和以人为中心的机器人技术的发展。研究团队将为以人为中心的智能服务系统做出以下贡献：1)彻底改变在装配制造过程中使用机器人技术，以密切支持熟练的人类工人，使他们能够专注于他们重视的任务(他们的职业)，而不是分散他们的才华的任务(物料流动)。2)通过IMDS系统的灵活、实时调度，极大地提高了工厂的生产率和灵活性，IMDS系统动态地合并了人类工作流的实时模型。3)深入探讨在工作场所使用IMDS系统对人类员工的认知、疲劳、情感和工作满意度的社会技术影响。该项目的方法与行业最先进的做法形成了直接对比，后者依赖于人类和机器人工作的严格分流，以及没有考虑到局部裁剪线变化的僵化的交付时间表。通过将IMDS紧密集成到人工工作流程中，并了解工人和材料状态，该项目将很容易实现人力资源的灵活性和可重构性，这在定制化、小批量制造环境中是绝对必要的。该项目将通过使用自动化来直接支持有才华、有技能的劳动力，帮助美国制造业显著改善其运营。它有可能影响美国所有主要的制造业，包括汽车、建筑、医疗保健、能源和商品。它将帮助美国公司将业务转移到海外，并为美国工人获得STEM技能创造新的机会。此外，该项目还涉及详细调查使用机器人从传统材料输送向智能材料输送过渡对人类工人的多重影响。通过了解对这种变化的反应，将对如何优化系统有新的理解，不仅是为了提高工作流程和任务效率，也是为了改善人类体验。这些知识对保持工作满意度、安全和健康以及人类劳动力的长期福祉至关重要。牵头机构是圣母大学计算机科学与工程系，与麻省理工学院航空航天系(马萨诸塞州剑桥)和科罗拉多大学博尔德分校土木、环境和建筑工程系(加利福尼亚州博尔德市)合作。主要的工业合作伙伴是Steelcase，Inc.(密歇根州大急流城)，一家专门生产可定制、定做家具的大型制造商。这项提议由计算机和信息科学与工程委员会(CEISE)、信息和智能系统部门(IIS)和计算机和网络系统部门(CNS)共同出资

Manufacturing represents a quarter of all employment in the US. To reshore jobs, improve operations, and recruit, retain, and retrain skilled workers, companies are increasingly using robotics technology. Ideally, robots will not replace humans but team with them to improve productivity. However, most industrial robots are poorly integrated into human workflow, causing expensive work stoppage problems ($1.7M per hour), worker stress, and talent loss. The research goal of this project is to address this problem by designing novel methods to improve human-robot workflow and productivity in assembly manufacturing through the use of an intelligent material delivery system (IMDS), which will closely integrate with and support the manual work process. This project will investigate innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches to this research area, dramatically advancing the state-of-the art in smart manufacturing and human-centered robotics. The research team will make the following contributions to human-centered smart service systems: 1) Revolutionize the use of robotics in assembly manufacturing processes to closely support skilled human workers, enabling them to focus on tasks they value (their trade) as opposed to tasks that distract from their talent (material movement). 2) Dramatically improve the productivity and flexibility of factories through nimble, real-time scheduling of an IMDS system that dynamically incorporates real-time models of human workflow. 3) Deeply explore the socio-technical implications of having an IMDS system in the workplace, in terms of human workers' cognition, fatigue, affect, and job satisfaction. The project's approach serves as a direct contrast to industry state-of-the-art, which relies on strict bifurcation of human and robot work, and rigid delivery schedules that fail to take local trim-line variations into account. By closely integrating an IMDS into the manual work process and understanding worker and material status, the project will readily enable flexibility and reconfigurability of a human workforce, an absolute necessity in made-to-order, small-batch manufacturing settings. This project will help the US manufacturing sector dramatically improve their operations by using automation to directly support a talented, skilled workforce. It has the potential to impact all major US manufacturing sectors, including automotive, construction, healthcare, energy, and goods. It will help US companies reshore operations, as well as create new opportunities for US worker STEM skill acquisition. Furthermore, this project involves a detailed investigation of multiple human worker implications of the transition from traditional to intelligent material delivery using robotics. By understanding reactions to such change, there will be new understanding on how to optimize a system not only for workflow and task efficiency but also for the human experience. Such knowledge is critical to maintaining job satisfaction, safety and health, and long-term well-being of the human workforce.The lead institution is the University of Notre Dame, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics (Cambridge, MA) and University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering (Boulder, CA). The primary industrial partner is Steelcase, Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI), a large manufacturer that specializes in customizable, made-to-order furniture.This proposal is co-funded by The Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Divisions of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) and Computer and Network Systems (CNS)