AI Institute: Planning: AI-Enabled Secure and Responsive Smart Manufacturing

先进制造正处于第四次工业革命的风口浪尖，被称为工业4.0或智能制造。然而，实现智能制造范式面临着诸多挑战。智能制造中设想的快速可重构生产系统本质上与从车间的机器和自动化机器人以及分散在供应链中的实体中获取大量连续流数据有关，这些数据使用异构传感器。数据必须通过具有严格延迟和安全保证的无线通道传输，并与实时分析相结合，以允许精确的故障排除、协调和监控。不可避免的结论是，为了实现智能制造，需要将制造技术、机器人和控制、5G等网络协议以及边缘推理等机器学习范式紧密集成（实际上是跨层优化）。实现这一愿景是本规划奖助金所设想的研究所的目标。实现一个有效的研究所将需要先进制造、人工智能、传感、计算和传感方面的专家，以及与工业和联邦研究实验室的合作。这一规划赠款的主要活动旨在通过一系列活动发展这样一支队伍。该研究所的智力堡垒是通过制造技术、5G等网络协议、机器人与控制、边缘推理等机器学习范式的紧密集成和跨层优化，实现智能制造。这种整合还将产生和振兴新的研究领域，包括基础材料科学、大规模供应网络和网络安全、支持人工智能的协作机器人和人机交互等。这些活动还包括参与的大学和社区学院的新课程开发，以及通过地方政府和高中的外展计划，以发展这种范式的劳动力，并扩大社会对人工智能相关技术的参与。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Advanced manufacturing is on the cusp of a Fourth Industrial revolution, captured by the term Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing. However, challenges abound in realizing the smart manufacturing paradigm. Rapidly reconfigurable production systems envisaged in smart manufacturing are inherently tied to acquisition of large amounts of continuous streaming data from machines and automated robots on the shop floor, as well as from entities dispersed in the supply-logistics chain, using heterogeneous sensors. The data has to be transmitted over wireless channels with tight latency and security guarantees, and coupled with real-time analysis to allow precise trouble-shooting, coordination, and monitoring. The inescapable conclusion is that to enable smart manufacturing, a tight integration – and, in fact, cross-layer optimization – of manufacturing technologies, robotics and control, networking protocols such as 5G, and machine learning paradigms such as inference on the edge is needed. Achieving this vision is the goal of the institute envisaged in this planning grant. Realizing an effective institute will require experts in advanced manufacturing, AI, sensing, computation, and sensing, as well as collaboration with industry and federal research labs. The major activities in this planning grant aim at developing such a team through a range of activities. The intellectual bulwark of the institute is the enabling of smart manufacturing through a tight integration and cross-layer optimization of manufacturing technologies, networking protocols such as 5G, robotics and control, and machine learning paradigms such as inference on the edge. This integration will also generate and revitalize new research areas that encompass fundamental materials science to large-scale supply networking and cybersecurity to AI-enabled collaborative robotics and human-robot interaction and beyond. The activities also include new curriculum development both at the participating universities and community colleges, as well as plans for outreach through local governments and high schools, for developing the workforce for such a paradigm and broadening participation into AI-related technology among society.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.