RISE: High-Performance Additive Manufacturing of Composite Structures via Development of Reconfigurable Cyber-Physical Robotic (CPR) Systems

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The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Infrastructure for Science and Engineering (HBCU-RISE) activity within the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program supports the development of research capability at HBCUs that offer doctoral degrees in science and engineering disciplines. HBCU-RISE projects have a direct connection to the long-term plans of the host department(s) and the institutional mission, and plans for expanding institutional research capacity as well as increasing the production of doctoral students in science and engineering. With support from the National Science Foundation, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), the largest land grant institution with a 65% female population, aims to provide integrated research and training, specifically to re-engage the underrepresented female population in the engineering research community. The program will utilize the greater FAMU resources to promote engineering prominence through design-centered projects. The project will develop and offer new training/curriculum modules and workshops to FAMU graduate students and community college instructors/students and should directly impact more than six graduate students and indirectly influence nearly 400 undergraduate and graduate students at FAMU. The project will stimulate FAMU students' interests in manufacturing research by using advanced robotics technologies and cyber technologies, thus increasing PhD student enrollment and overall student retention which is vital to the University's mission to expand engineering. The proposed research aims to establish methodologies and infrastructures leading to a viable way to create high-performance lightweight composite structures at various size scales. The project will leverage state-of-the-art technologies in advanced robotics and cyber-physical systems to enhance additive manufacturing of composite materials. The research elements in this project include: 1) hybrid composite manufacturing process development, modeling/simulation, and optimization, 2) a cyber-physical system (CPS) for multi-robot collaboration, control, and coordination, and 3) a reconfigurable cyber-physical robotic system for scalable demands. This project will provide the first demonstration in cybernizing composite material production through coordinated and networked manufacturing. The research will transform the composite structure manufacturing from compression molding to a high-performance CPS production system. The Cyber-Physical Robotic Systems project will support FAMU's long-term goal of establishing a center of excellence for research and education in advanced materials and manufacturing engineering through innovative additive manufacturing research.