Feasibility of a standardised, optimised Soft Robotics CPU as the core Industry 4.0 architecture to advance the rapidly growing soft robotics industry

我们的目标是整合工业4.0技术，以解决人类面临的巨大挑战(到2050年养活98亿人，改善健康/生活质量，应对气候变化)，以工业弹性、环境可持续、经济可获得性的方式贡献50亿美元的市场机会。该计划应对重大挑战1“人工智能和数据”，并与2“老龄化社会”保持一致。就像集成电路革命性的信息处理一样，新的高度集成的体系结构有可能彻底改变包括软机器人在内的主要行业。生物集成电路技术公司(英国中小企业)将领导该计划。这个开创性的项目将生物公司的英国工业4.0技术部署在高度集成的3D打印系统中，建立了英国在这个增长行业中的关键能力。该项目将对软机器人CPU(SrCPU)进行可行性研究，该CPU将提供新的软机器人开发的核心网络物理架构。SrCPU将使用多材料3D打印和柔性电子技术将硬件组件与嵌入式软件集成在一起，作为中央操作系统来控制软机器人的信息处理和执行。SrCPU将能够连接到3D打印的集成软机器人原型，作为独立系统或与硬机器人和远程设备(如无人自主车辆)接口。该项目将显著提高整个软机器人细分市场的总体技术准备水平。新一代软机器人将在动态任务/非结构化环境中操作，增加与人类的协作。软机器人的优势是easy-fabrication/low-cost/lightweight/high-flexibility/safety.然而，关键的操作需求是推进核心中央处理体系结构，以减少显著的控制基础设施负担(泵/阀/电子学/光学)，提高远程可操作性，扩大应用领域并加快客户进入市场的速度。目标是证明生物标准化srCPU原型的可行性，该原型能够互连到多个软机器人(例如抓取器/手/手臂/蠕虫)，以展示开放创新平台的便携性。受集成电路的启发，生物公司的全堆栈数字硬件srCPU体系结构是软件可配置的，可跨许多市场的水平应用，提高在仓储/物流(处理复杂库存)、医疗保健(外科设备/传染病材料)、核去功能化和农业方面的工业韧性。Soft机器人可以在全球CAGR\&GT从6.45亿加元(2019年)增长到50亿加元(2025年)；40%[研究和市场]，前提是解决了中央处理限制。我们估计，通过这个改变游戏规则、以用户为中心的计划，srCPU可以满足高达20%的市场份额。

Our motivation is to integrate Industry 4.0 technologies to solve enormous challenges faced by humanity (feeding 9.8 billion people by 2050, improving health/quality of life, addressing climate change) contributing to a $5bn market opportunity in an industrially resilient, environmentally sustainable, economically accessible way.This programme addresses grand challenge 1 "Artificial intelligence and data" and aligns to 2 "Ageing society".In the same way the integrated circuit revolutionised information processing, new highly-integrated architectures have the potential to revolutionise major industries including soft robotics.BiologIC Technologies (UK SME) will lead the programme. This pioneering project deploys BiologIC's industry 4.0 UK technologies in highly-integrated 3D-printed systems, establishing critical UK capability in this growth industry.The project will undertake a feasibility study into a soft robotics CPU ("srCPU") that will provide the core cyber-physical architecture central to new soft robotic development. The srCPU will use multi-material 3D-printing and flexi-electronics to integrate hardware components together with embedded software as a central operating system to control the information processing and actuation of soft robots. The srCPU will be able to interconnect to 3D-printed, integrated soft robot prototypes either as standalone systems or to interface with hard robots and remote devices such as Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles.The project will significantly advance the total technology readiness level of the whole soft robotics market segment. New generations of soft robots will operate in dynamic-task/unstructured environments in increasing collaboration with humans. Advantages of soft robots are easy-fabrication/low-cost/lightweight/high-flexibility/safety. However, there are critical operational needs to advance core central processing architectures that reduce the significant control infrastructure burden (pumps/valves/electronics/optics), improve remote operability, broaden application areas and accelerate customer speed-to-market.The objective is to demonstrate feasibility of a prototype standardised srCPU from BiologIC capable of being interconnected to a number of soft robots (soft end-effectors e.g. grippers/hands/arms/worms) to show portability of the open-innovation platform.Inspired by integrated circuits, BiologIC's full-stack "digital hardware" srCPU architectures are software-configurable with horizontal applications across many markets, increasing industrial resilience in warehousing/logistics (handling complex inventory), healthcare (surgical devices/infectious material), nuclear decomissioning and agriculture.Soft robotics can grow globally from c$645m (2019) to c$5bn (2025) at CAGR\>40% \[Research and Markets\] provided central processing constraints are addressed. We estimate the srCPU can address up to 20% of this market through this game-changing, user-focused programme.