This research project will develop a technology that will have the potential to fundamentally change how industrial robot commissioning is conducted. The vision is to use a combination of sensors and data analysis models incorporating machine learning to verify and correct automation errors at the commissioning stage.
This is currently a manually intensive phase of the manufacturing process requiring human intervention and trial parts that are often scrapped. This excessive waste of human, material and energy resources is no longer sustainable, from an environmental perspective or the business bottom line.
This new process will enable faster, more efficient commissioning which in turn will facilitate more flexible manufacturing processes with the ability to change product configuration or introduce new products at a higher frequency.
**Vision**: UK businesses INSPHERE and Createc have technologies that together could revolutionise advanced welding and inspection for safety-critical component manufacture. AFFIRM takes INSPHERE's new and highly innovative IONA system for real-time monitoring and control of robots and advances it alongside Createc's in-situ radiography weld-inspection technology. This will develop technology for advanced automated safety-critical component manufacture in key UK industrial sectors (e.g., nuclear, offshore energy). These two SMEs will be supported by the University of Sheffield's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (UoS, Nuclear AMRC) to demonstrate safe, accurate robot processes enabled by the accurate monitoring that IONA can offer, covering both welding operations and in-process weld inspection using a multi robot-based radiography approach.
**Opportunity**: UK industrial robotics markets could reach £0.5bn by 2030, and Global nuclear reactor markets ~$55.71billion by 2027\. Nuclear has gained renewed traction towards reaching net-zero energy targets (COP26). Recent UK policy should unlock large-scale nuclear (2021 Nuclear Energy Bill), Small Modular Reactors (SMR, Rolls-Royce) and High Gas Temperature Advanced Modular Reactors (HGTR/AMR, both 2030's), and fusion demonstration (2040, UKAEA). Hand in hand with this is nuclear waste management. Waste container procurement cost estimated at £4bn over the next 100years and an estimated 744,000m3 of waste to safely contain up to 2140, automation of container production will reduce production cost and enable UK supply chains to meet this demand.
**Customers**: Our primary target market is the nuclear industry supply chain, followed by offshore energy. We will use production of safety-critical nuclear waste containers as our initial use case within the integrated advanced manufacturing cell.
**Wider picture**: AFFIRM aligns with UK Innovation priorities in Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, and Robotics and Smart Machines. Unlocking barriers to adoption of robotics in safety-critical UK industries will reduce the cost of nuclear decommissioning, the roll out and export opportunities for Small and Advanced Modular Reactors and meet UK Government offshore energy targets. AFFIRM ultimately supports nuclear and offshore energy's role in the UK and Global mission to achieve net zero.
**Outputs**: Smart Grant funding will progress the technology readiness levels (TRL) of INSPHERE's IONA and Createc's weld inspection technologies from TRLs3-6 for safety-critical advanced manufacturing. These will be demonstrated in an advanced manufacturing cell at the Nuclear AMRC. The next stage towards commercialisation will be a pilot scheme installing demonstrator cells in customer facilities working with our Advisory Group, and the wider Nuclear AMRC membership group.
Robots are inexpensive and flexible to use for manufacturing tasks, but it has been challenging to deploy them in aerospace applications where high accuracy is essential. The project will use a new, patented, low-cost, sensor network to track robots accurately, and will employ artificial intelligence (AI) to create a self-correcting system that can achieve aerospace accuracy and further enhance the flexibility that robots can provide.
The project will develop and showcase new methods of deep learning from complex datasets, unlocking the potential for widespread introduction of high-accuracy robotics, and securing a significant benefit to advanced manufacturing in the UK.
The Ubiquitous Monitoring and Control (UMAC) project aims to develop and demonstrate automated manufacturing process monitoring, analysis, prediction and correction within a multi-stage manufacturing system. This will improve system performance and enhance process control ultimately reducing part-to-part variation. The target application will be automation-based manufacturing processes which could be significantly enhanced with adaptive feedback from the UMAC system.
In addition to developing innovative, disruptive hardware, this project aims to develop software based analytical algorithms to enhance the process control, using the data generated, for the whole manufacturing eco-system and subsequently utilizing the data to facilitate machine learning.
INSPHERELtd. BASELINE project
Many of the current manufacturing techniques used in industries were developed for standard and conventional materials, some of which are now being challenged by novel and more advanced counterparts which can be difficult to process by standard means. A next-generation, advanced manufacturing technique is required to fully exploit the potential of these innovative materials, which include examples such as CFRP-metal stacks. The aim of the RoboMade project is to exploit a decade of advanced R&D activities in robotics, advanced machining and automation to develop a novel hybrid ultrasonic assisted robotic machining system for. RoboMade will offer a low-cost and accessible solution, delivering high-value, to meet the ever-increasing demand from customers for precision machining of exotic materials, associated with significant capital and operational cost savings. The digital infrastructure underpinning the system will provide users major benefits related to flexibility, configurability and autonomous operations
There is a large emphasis across the tool and die (T&D) sector to develop new methods which reduce cost, improve life and functional performance. The European T&D market is estimated at 11 billion USD per year and the UK spends £130m on closed die forging and sheet metal dies alone. These industries are made up of a large number of SMEs and adopting new methods require significant investment. The approach will develop an additive manufacturing digital framework which has cross sector applicability in all re/manufacturing applications and can be integrated with existing legacy machine tools, providing an affordable solution. The potential benefits are; rapid T&D re/manufacture (hybrid single platform); circular economy approach; gain on material utilization; saving on machine time; saving on consumable costs; lead time reduction; reduced energy consumption; improved performance. TTL (lead), Advanced Forming Research Centre, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, Hexagon and ATS Global will collaborate to achieve this. Mills Forging will provide an end user demonstrator case that will provide them with opportunities to be more competitive and diversify into different markets (automotive and aerospace) and employ staff in highly skilled areas.
The TACDAM project will perform targeted Additive Manufacturing (AM) pre- and post-processvalue chain technology developments, develop an adaptive quality assurance model, introduceparametric design as a key process variable and demonstrate the capability to deliver cost andquality outcomes at Manufacturing Readiness Level 6 to the automotive industry.