Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Resilient AI Network (RAIN) for next-generation manufacturing

越来越大的数字鸿沟使中小型制造商难以在全球范围内保持竞争力。尽管它们是农村社区高薪工作的命脉，但美国许多中小型制造商无法获得训练经典人工智能/机器学习（AI/ML）算法所需的大型数据集。目前，数字鸿沟和分散的生态系统阻碍了美国的发展。不幸的是，正如新冠肺炎大流行和德克萨斯州大规模停电所显示的那样，这种制度的刚性几乎没有提供安全网。这项规划拨款将帮助建立一个全国性的工程中心，得到各种规模的行业合作伙伴的信任和授权。拟议的下一代制造业ERC弹性人工智能网络（RAIN）的愿景是，通过成功采用隐私保护、可扩展、即建即证的人工智能/机器学习实践，消除数字鸿沟，并在不集中的情况下获得规模经济效益，使美国制造商能够提高弹性和国际竞争力。这种基于人工智能/机器学习技术的基本重新构想的新制造框架/范式将使各种规模的美国制造商在全球竞争中处于领先地位。规划补助金将有助于促进与社区领袖、K-12和大学的合作伙伴关系，以制定一项计划，吸引新的多样化工程劳动力，从人工智能和数据分析工具中获得见解，并有能力将新产品推向市场。RAIN将使分布式边缘人工智能工具集成在线成像、声音、振动和多传感器分析。这可以显著改善许多行业的制造质量控制和机械加工时间。将研究人工智能公地优化行业合作社的隐私-效用权衡。当新产品或供应链的变化引入需要人力投入的新条件时，以人为本的设计对于弹性和敏捷制造至关重要。RAIN团队汇集了来自人工智能和计算机系统、以人为本的设计、政策、隐私和工程教育领域的专家，以及在制造规模扩大、测试平台、生命周期环境和经济分析方面拥有丰富经验的专家。该规划赠款的一个重点将是加强RAIN在我们广泛的利益相关者之间的伙伴关系、资源和支持。一个中心目标是加强RAIN的行业伙伴关系，这需要一种信任关系，因为我们的愿景是高风险但高回报的。有了这笔规划拨款，RAIN将通过以下三个关键方法扩大我们值得信赖的行业合作伙伴的数量：(1)通过网络将利益相关者聚集在一起，扩大现有的产学研关系，在我们所有的大学合作伙伴之间分担能力建设和价值创造的责任；(2)培育与中小厂商的新关系；(3)与适当的利益相关者举办研讨会，以获得制造商对知识产权问题的支持，确保共同平台，并促进劳动力发展机会。RAIN将通过制定招聘和获得受过良好教育的多元化劳动力的计划，以及为我们的制造示范设施内的现有员工提供培训机会，来扩大其活动。RAIN将实施一项全面计划，以促进多元化和包容性的团队。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。

There is an increasing digital divide making it difficult for small and medium manufacturers to be globally competitive. Although they are the lifeblood of well-paying jobs in rural communities, many small and medium manufacturers throughout the U.S. do not have access to the large datasets needed to train classical artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms. Progress in the U.S. is currently hampered by this digital-divide as well as a fragmented ecosystem that obviates rapid scale-up. Unfortunately, the rigidity of this system provides little safety net, as shown during the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive electricity blackout in Texas. This planning grant will help develop a nationwide engineering center that is trusted and empowered by industry partners of all sizes. The vision of the proposed Resilient AI Network (RAIN) for next-generation manufacturing ERC is to empower U.S. manufacturers to increase resiliency and international competitiveness by successfully adopting privacy-preserving, scalable, certify-as-you-build AI/ML practices to erase the digital-divide and accrue the benefit of economy-of-scale without centralization. This new manufacturing framework/paradigm based on the fundamental reimagination of AI/ML techniques will empower U.S. manufacturers of all sizes to lead among global competitors. The planning grant will help foster the partnership with community leaders, K-12 and colleges to develop a plan to attract a new diverse engineering workforce gaining insights from AI and data analytic tools and equipped to bring new products to the market.RAIN will enable distributed edge-AI tools integrating inline imaging, sound, vibration, and multi-sensor analytics. This can significantly improve manufacturing quality control, and machine-up time in many industries. AI-commons optimizing privacy-utility tradeoffs for industry cooperatives will be studied. Human-centered design is essential for resilient and agile manufacturing as new products or changes in supply-chain introduce new conditions requiring human input. The RAIN team brings together experts from AI and computer systems, human-centered design, policy, privacy, and engineering education as well as those with extensive experience in manufacturing scale up, testbeds, and life-cycle environmental and economic analysis. A key focus of this planning grant will be bolstering RAIN’s partnerships, resources, and support among our broad range of stakeholders. A central goal will be enhancing RAIN’s industry partnerships, which require a trusting relationship since our vision is high risk but with a high reward. With this planning grant, RAIN will expand our number of trusted industry partnerships through three key methods: (1) sharing capacity-building and value creation responsibilities among all our university partners by expanding existing industry-university relationships through networking that brings together stakeholders; (2) cultivating new relationships with small and medium manufacturers; and (3) hosting workshops with appropriate stakeholders to gain buy-in from manufacturers to issues of intellectual properties (IP), secure a common platform, and promote workforce development opportunities. RAIN will broaden its activities by developing plans for recruiting and accessing an educated, diverse workforce, as well as promoting training opportunities for current employees within our manufacturing demonstration facilities. RAIN will be implementing a comprehensive plan for promoting a diverse and inclusive team.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.