Centres of Excellence
Centre for Sustainable Human-Machine Interaction in Eco-Innovative Manufacturing
The implementation of the task will contribute to an increase in innovation in many Lubuskie companies and leapfrog the level of reindustrialisation in the region – in line with specific objective I of the Strategy for Responsible Development (SOR) by 2020: sustainable economic growth based increasingly on knowledge, data and organisational excellence. The results of the research will form the basis of support for regional companies operating, e.g., in the strategic sectors defined in the SOR 1- production of means of transport and 3- specialised information and communication technologies, which will allow them to exploit their existing advantages and simultaneously create new ones in areas bringing high added value, with greater and better use of knowledge and capital and rational/effective use of resources. Research in the three areas will contribute to the leapfrogging development of the mechanical engineering discipline in the region, and will be a kind of “marketing flywheel” for the development of many other UZ scientific disciplines and areas of the economy in the region.
Research Areas:
1. Proactive human-robot collaboration (HRC).
2. Eco-innovative production using ecological cooling methods.
3. Assessment of the level of implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies among companies in the Lubuskie region in the engineering and automotive industries.
RESEARCH AREA 1
Proactive human-robot collaboration (HRC).
Currently, there are no universal methods for representing and automatically consolidating the data, knowledge information acquired from both the robot and the worker during their interactions into a single cognitive system that allows efficient operation on them and the expansion of knowledge of the processes involved. Therefore, research area 1 will develop models for sustainable human-robot cooperation in three areas: environmental, social to increase HRC efficiency and safety, and to establish conditions for simulating the adaptation of the production site to difficult and unexpected situations. The data and information extracted from the audio and video recordings and sensor data will allow us to build our own database of large datasets and, as a result, to train and verify different artificial neural network architectures, in particular the use of convolutional neural networks. As a result, analytical and artificial intelligence-based models of sustainable human-robot collaboration (HRC) will be built to proactively assess the effectiveness of HRC in the production process, check the reliability of HRC operation and assess the safety of HRC (there is a risk of collisions between robots and operators when they work together in a common workspace). The construction of user-centred robot-human collaboration (HRC) systems, with an emphasis on user safety, requires their combination with cyber-physical systems and user-centred visualisation and interaction technology.
RESEARCH AREA 2
Eco-innovative production using ecological cooling methods.
Research in this area is concerned with ecological cooling methods in machining, which are part of what is known as ‘green manufacturing’ because they are economical while minimising pollution at source and risks to human health and the environment.
The minimised lubrication cooling method is widely used, including in the engineering and automotive sectors. However, when machining difficult-to-machine materials (titanium alloys, nickel alloys) and soft materials (aluminium alloys), wet machining with very large volumes of machining fluids is still used. The purchased optical tensiometer will contribute to the knowledge of the application of droplets contained in the aerosol in the method of minimised delivery to the cutting zone and its effectiveness in terms of wetting and penetration. This device will allow the determination of such important issues of the active medium used as wettability, surface tension, interfacial tension, wetting angle, absorption, surface free energy, adsorption and interfacial rheology. Aerosol formation parameters will be determined, such as the flow rate of the machining fluid and the air flow rate, as well as the diameter and shape of the nozzles or channels inside the tool through which the active medium is fed. Work will also be carried out on the hybrid application of two cooling methods: cryogenic combined with minimised lubrication.
RESEARCH AREA 3
Assessment of the level of implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies among companies in the Lubuskie region in the engineering and automotive industries.
Assessment of the level of implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies among companies in the Lubuskie region in the engineering and automotive industries.
The main objective of Area 3 is to verify the level of implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in manufacturing companies, also in line with the SOR reindustrialisation area, strategic sectors 1 – production of means of transport and sector 3 – specialised information technology.
The knowledge and experience of the staff in the mechanical engineering discipline allows us to offer audits to 6 companies: automotive (3 companies), and engineering (3 companies) covering the use of new industry technologies related to the development of smart industry and the use of advanced materials.
During the audits, data acquisition on energy intensity, consumption of consumables and face-to-face interviews will be carried out, as well as an analysis of the maintenance procedures of selected equipment. Analysis of the data will allow recommendations to be developed for reducing energy and consumables intensity and improving the sustainability of selected processes in the audited companies. During the audits conducted, an analysis of selected employee activities in the working environment will also be carried out using the cameras purchased. A survey questionnaire will then be developed to verify the level of implementation of automation and robotisation and a baseline survey will be conducted among 200 Lubuskie manufacturing enterprises, primarily in the engineering and automotive sectors. On this basis, recommendations will be developed for companies in terms of proposals for changes towards sustainable human-machine collaboration in eco-innovative production, e.g. in the area of the applicability of intelligent decision-making systems which, based on data acquired from vision systems and a set of appropriately selected sensors, monitor the processes carried out in the company. The use of such solutions will allow the creation of modern workplaces where people play the role of process controller and supervisor.
Unique equipments:
a cooperative robot with an inspection camera on its arm and a RaelWear HMT-1 + camera set + wireless microphones + sensors, which will enable the collection of data, information and knowledge during the interaction of the robot and the human as part of the execution of a set activity in a selected production process, contributing to the progress of research into proactive collaboration between humans and robots
optical tensiometer, allowing very precise optical analysis of liquids on the solid surface to be machined, both of hard-to-cut materials, e.g. titanium alloys, nickel, and soft materials (aluminium alloys). The results of the research received can significantly contribute to increasing the level of eco-innovative production in the engineering and automotive industries, among others.