FMSG: Additive Manufacturing via Bioinspired Distributed Agents

通过一群简单的、分布式的代理来生产复杂结构在生物学中是普遍存在的（例如，蚁群，组织的细胞形成），但技术限制传统上阻碍了这种制造方法。相比之下，传统制造，从机械加工和铸造到现代方法，如卷对卷或增材制造，需要一个确定的计划，该计划在一系列精确的顺序步骤中执行。随着机器人技术的小型化和新型逆向设计工具的出现，自然界中使用的分布式、群体方法成为未来重要的制造平台是可行的。这种方法的优点包括：(1)能够在没有预定步骤的情况下生产复杂的多材料、多尺度结构；(2)对制造误差具有极强的鲁棒性。这项未来制造种子基金（FMSG）将建立必要的理论基础和实践工具，为这一新兴研究领域铺平道路，并了解其可行性。除了这项工作的技术方面，这项研究可能会导致一个新的制造业领域，具有有益的经济和劳动力影响。因此，研究人员将与中型和大型制造企业合作，深入了解这种新的制造模式如何要求改变制造业课程，以培训和再培训未来的制造业工人。该项目将培养多样化的研究生和本科生，并向K-12学生和公众推广。该种子基金的目标是为未来制造的新范式提供框架和基础，其中多个简单代理基于本地信息（例如，温度，光线，预先存在的结构）操作，以修改或制造基于简单本地设计规则的复杂结构。这种新方法的可行性将被检查，并将开发合适的词汇，处理形式化，设计规则等，以建立这种范式作为一个新的，转型的研究领域。这项工作将解决以下关键问题：局部设计规则如何映射到不同的结构特征，并最终映射到整体机械性能（例如，刚度、强度、质量、泊松比）和性能组合（例如，最小质量结构的最大比韧性）？不同的设计规则如何影响向最优属性收敛的速度？这些问题的答案也将被整合到一个逆设计框架中，允许根据所需的属性生成局部规则。该拨款由民用、机械和制造创新部（CMMI）和工业创新与伙伴关系部（IIP）共同资助。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。

Production of complex structures via a swarm of simple, distributed agents is ubiquitous in biology (e.g., ant colonies, cellular formation of tissues), yet technological limitations have traditionally prevented this approach in manufacturing. In contrast, traditional manufacturing, from machining and casting to modern approaches such as roll-to-roll or additive manufacturing, require a deterministic plan which is executed in a series of precise, sequential steps. With miniaturization of robotics and novel inverse design tools, it is now feasible that the distributed, swarm approach used in nature could become an essential future manufacturing platform. The advantages of this approach include (1) the ability to produce complex multimaterial, multiscale structures without predetermined steps and (2) extreme robustness to manufacturing errors. This Future Manufacturing Seed Grant (FMSG) will establish the theoretical foundation and the practical tools necessary to pave the way for this nascent area of research and to understand its feasibility. In addition to the technical aspects of this work, this research could lead to a new area of manufacturing with beneficial economic and workforce implications. In conjunction with mid-sized and large manufacturing firms the researchers will therefore seek insight about how this new manufacturing paradigm would require changes to manufacturing curricula for the training and retraining of future manufacturing workers. This project will lead to the training of diverse graduate and undergraduate students and to outreach to K-12 students and the general public. The objective of this seed grant is to provide the framework and foundation for a new paradigm for future manufacturing in which multiple simple agents operate based on local information (e.g., temperature, light, pre-existing structure) to modify or manufacture complex structures based on simple local design rules. The feasibility of this new approach will be examined, and suitable vocabulary, processing formalization, design rules, etc., will be developed to establish this paradigm as a new, transformational area of research. The work will address the following key questions: How do local design rules map to different structural features, and ultimately to global mechanical properties (e.g., stiffness, strength, mass, Poisson's ratio) and combinations of properties (e.g., maximal specific toughness for a structure of minimal mass)? How do different design rules affect the rate of convergence toward optimal properties? The answers to these questions will also be incorporated in an inverse design framework, allowing local rules to be generated based on the desired properties. This grant is co-funded by the division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) and the division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP).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.