Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Convergence of Scalable and Sustainable Digital Fabrication of Smart Textiles

工程研究中心规划奖助金竞赛是作为ERC计划的试点征集活动进行的。计划拨款并不是整个ERC竞赛的一部分，而是为了在团队之间建立能力，以计划集中的、中央规模的工程研究。可穿戴技术的使用将在未来十年大幅增加。许多灵活的电子设备已经开始作为健康监测器、植入物、电池或配件被整合到服装中。因此，有越来越迫切的需求带来数字制造，以创造可持续的产品，特别是智能纺织品，它将在我们生活的方方面面节约水、营养和能源。基于纺织品的设备，无论是被动的还是主动的，都将作为嵌入智能的平台。在将设计、传感、通信和先进制造技术融合到不显眼的纺织品中时，它提供了难得的机遇和挑战。为了让纺织品发挥设备的作用，它需要一种融合的方法，建立并支持交叉科学、技术、工程、数学和艺术(STEAM)的协作和协同，以实现可扩展和可持续的纤维和纱线制造，最终产品智能面料。如果成功，计划中的ERC将使传统纺织制造转变为可持续的数字制造，这将影响可穿戴电子产品、智能服装、机器人、安全、建筑内饰和信封以及医疗设备。计划中的ERC将有广泛的大学研究人员和设计师与政府和行业利益相关者捆绑在一起，以开发一个任何现有合作或单一机构都不可能实现的通用平台。它需要系统级的设计考虑因素和跨学科的融合方法。规划拨款将使我们能够(1)鉴于不同团队之间的非常规合作，确定研究和教育/劳动力发展方面的挑战；(2)开展试点项目，以测试/促进跨中心倡议，并计划举办研讨会，为计划中的ERC汇聚潜在利益相关者；(3)通过研讨会和规划会议，为可应用于许多不同问题的、由利益相关者驱动的一般研究框架和工作流程建立初步愿景。试点项目将1)开发包括自动折叠纺织品在内的纺织品的预测建模和可持续制造；2)在以纺织品为基础的健康监测仪的制造中嵌入智能和可持续发展；3)创造类似植物的“第二张皮”，用于能源收集和自我供电；以及4)融合时尚和技术。在规划拨款中，我们还将为设计信息和感官数据的大型存储库创建一个设计数据观察站。规划拨款将促进融合科学家、工程师和设计师，以加强现有的合作，并围绕计划中的ERC建立共识，以解决更复杂的问题。它将加快研究创新，丰富我们的教学经验，激发公众的热情，并准备一支多样化的蒸汽劳动力队伍，以推动美国在数字制造领域的领导地位。在计划拨款中，我们将重点关注1)跨学校和学科的ERC特定课程创新，以不断丰富教育经验。2)教师发展，以提高教与学的有效性，在课堂和较不正规的环境中创建可复制的跨学科学习模块。3)在学生教育和培训的早期阶段吸引潜在的行业合作伙伴。4)提高技术准备能力。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.The use of wearable technology is poised to significantly increase in the next decade. Many flexible electronic devices have begun to be incorporated into clothing as health monitors, implants, batteries, or accessories. Therefore, there are ever more pressing needs to bring digital fabrication to create sustainable products, specifically, smart textiles that will conserve water, nutrients, and energy in every facet of our lives. Textile-based devices, both passive and active, will act as platforms to embed intelligence. It offers a rare opportunity as well as challenges when blending design, sensing, communication, and advanced manufacturing technologies into unobtrusive textiles. For textile to perform as devices, it requires a convergence approach that builds and supports collaboration and synergy that intersects science, technology, engineering, mathematics and art (STEAM) for a scalable and sustainable manufacturing fibers and yarns towards the final products, smart fabrics. If successful, the planned ERC will enable transformation of traditional textile manufacturing into sustainable digital fabrication, which will impact wearable electronics, smart clothing, robotics, safety, building interiors and envelopes, and medical devices. The planned ERC will have a broad set of university researchers and designers tied to government and industrial stakeholders to develop a general platform that is not possible by any existing collaboration or a single institution. It necessitates system-level design considerations and a convergent approach across disciplines. The planning grant will allow us to (1) identify research and education/workforce development challenges given the unconventional collaborations between different teams; (2) carry out pilot projects to test/facilitate cross-center initiatives, and plan a workshop to bring together potential stakeholders for the planned ERC; (3) establish initial vision via workshop and planning meetings for a general stakeholder-driven research framework and workflow that can be applied to many different problems. The pilot projects will 1) Develop predictive modeling and sustainable manufacturing of textile, including self-folding textiles; 2) Embed intelligence and sustainability in manufacturing of textile-based health monitors; 3) Create plant-like "second skins" for energy-harvesting, and self-powering, and 4) Blend fashion and technology. In the planning grant, we will also create a design data observatory for large repositories of design information and sensory data. The planning grant will foster convergence that blends scientists, engineers, and designers to strengthen the existing collaborations and build consensus around the planned ERC to address more complex problems. It will accelerate research innovation, enrich our teaching and learning experience, excite the public, and prepare a diverse STEAM workforce to advance U.S. leadership in digital manufacturing. In the planning grant, we will focus on 1) ERC specific curricular innovation across schools and disciplines to enrich education experience in STEAM. 2) Faculty development to enhance effectiveness of teaching and learning, creating replicable, interdisciplinary learning modules in both the classroom and less formal environments. 3) Engaging potential industrial partners in the early stage of education and training of students. 4) Building up technology readiness.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.