Pro2 Network+: From Prototyping to Production of Digital Devices

英国和全球的研究和开发社区在电子设备原型方面取得了巨大的进步。支持传统电子产品的平台已经成熟，印刷电子产品和相关增材技术的新兴潜力也很明显。这些功能共同支持数字设备的形式和功能的快速和多功能原型设计，这些数字设备支持新颖的交互式数据驱动体验，包括物联网（IoT）、可穿戴技术等。然而，要充分发挥其潜力，仍然存在挑战。在实验室和创客空间中原型化的交互式设备实现了新的功能和材料，这些功能和材料需要超越传统电子产品模拟的整体制造能力。即使是传统的工作台设计，为了从原型过渡到产品，它们也需要具有适当的坚固性、安全性、长寿命、高性能和成本效益，以提供产品价值-无论是一系列一次性大规模定制设备、小批量还是大规模生产的人工制品。不幸的是，从原型到生产的过渡对于最终用户来说并不是一个自然的过程;许多有潜力的想法在最初的几个设计之后就没有进展了。设备生产的民主化是支撑数字系统可扩展性和企业家精神的关键下一步。我们提出了一个由大学、研究机构和商业企业组成的网络+，他们的共同目标是改善从原型到数字设备生产的过渡。Pro2社区将建立在其研究人员和从业人员的设计和制造专业知识的基础上，以促进对既定原则，技术和技术的深入综合，并开发跨越计算机科学，工程和制造的新概念。我们将补充正在进行的全球投资到各种“数字制造”主题-包括英国的“智能制造”计划-通过解决从非传统和单一数字设备原型逐步和经济有效地过渡到可以验证设计和验证实用程序的数十个副本的挑战，以批量生产数百到数千个单位。在原型设计中，随着增材制造和印刷电子进一步融合，在软机器人和4D打印等非传统领域，我们需要确定如何将工具集成和优化到支持跨材料，规模和功能的数字行为的工作流程中。在生产中，从一次性微控制器原型到规模扩大的平滑路径是一项重大挑战，需要新的流程和工具以及重新配置业务模型和服务。我们对从原型到生产的“有机扩展”的愿景将允许更快地探索和利用这些数字设备概念和应用。这将加速物联网的采用，新消费电子市场的增长，并更普遍地支持许多行业的数据驱动的数字化转型。它将带来新的研究方向，创造新的商业机会，推动经济增长。

The UK and global research and development communities have made tremendous strides in electronic device prototyping. Platforms that support conventional electronics have become well established, and the emerging potential of printed electronics and related additive technologies is clear. Together these support fast and versatile prototyping of the form and function of digital devices that underpin novel interactive data-driven experiences, including the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable technologies and more. However, challenges remain to realise their full potential. Interactive devices prototyped in labs and makerspaces implement novel capabilities and materials which require holistic manufacturing capability beyond simulation of conventional electronics. Even for conventional bench designs, to make the transition from prototype to product they need to be suitably robust, safe, long-lived, performant and cost-effective to deliver value as products - whether as a series of one-off mass customised devices, low-volume batches, or mass-produced artefacts. Unfortunately, the transition from prototype to production is not a natural one for end users; many ideas with potential don't progress beyond the first few designs. Democratising access to device production is the key next step in underpinning scalability and entrepreneurship in digital systems.We propose a Network+ of universities, research organisations and commercial enterprises who share the common goal of improving the transition from prototyping to production of digital devices. The Pro2 community will build upon the design and fabrication expertise of its researchers and practitioners to facilitate a deep synthesis of established principles, techniques and technologies and develop new concepts that span computer science, engineering and manufacturing. We will complement the on-going global investment into a variety of 'digital manufacturing' topics - including the UK's Made Smarter initiative - by tackling the challenge of progressively and cost-effectively transitioning from unconventional and single digital device prototypes, through tens of copies that can verify a design and validate utility, to batch production of hundreds to thousands of units. In prototyping, as additive manufacture and printed electronics converge further, in unconventional fields such as soft robotics and 4D printing, we need to identify how to integrate and optimise tools into workflows that support digital behaviour across materials, scales and functionalities. In production, smoothing the path from one-off microcontroller prototypes to scale-up is a significant challenge, and requires new processes and tools as well as reconfiguration of business models and services. Our vision for 'organic scaling' from prototype to production will allow faster exploration and exploitation of these digital device concepts and applications. This will accelerate the adoption of IoT, the growth of new consumer electronics markets, and more generally underpin the data-driven digital transformation of many industries. It will enable new research directions, create new business opportunities and drive economic growth.