Performance of Emerging Technologies for Robotics

Summary

This project is focused on the identification of new Critical and Emerging Technologies (CETs) that are particularly suited for manufacturing automation applications within Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). SMEs have lagged in the adoption of robotic systems within their manufacturing operations, despite the potential quality and productivity advantages that automation can provide. New technologies can ease the adoption of industrial robotics to increase manufacturing competitiveness in SMEs. However, these untested CETs are in need of evaluation to determine their utility and application potential.

The project will also integrate findings from SME interactions to develop tools/resources, test methods, metrics, and standards that facilitate the integration and evaluation of emerging technologies in SME environments. The project aims to harness new technological developments to reduce the burdens SMEs confront during selection & installation of robotic systems, ensure greater robustness during operation, support rapid retasking, and enable smooth integration of sensors, grippers, and other tooling. Such emerging technologies include Digital Twins and Extended Reality products that are newer to the market and lack a basis for comparison or evaluation, as well as forward-looking technologies including Humanoid Robots. The measurement science tools provided by this project will be leveraged to advance the competitiveness of SMEs by enabling new manufacturing capabilities, as well as provide the bases for advancements in application-driven technology designs.

Finally, this project will serve as a bridge for interactions with small manufacturers, systems integrators, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers, and other stakeholders, to identify the major obstacles to greater adoption of robots and the ongoing needs of SMEs utilizing manufacturing robots.

Description

Objective
Identify opportunities in, and barriers to greater adoption of robotics, and help establish the metrology basis needed for assessing, accepting, and advancing novel technologies that could help overcome these barriers in small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

Technical Idea
Small manufacturers could benefit greatly from the use of robots in the factory but are limited by the technical challenges inherent to installation and use of robots, sensors, & tooling within dynamic, unstructured environments. Previous iterations of this project focused on 1) specific metrology-based solutions to enable small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt collaborative robots into their workcells, and 2) identifying specific opportunities and challenges faced by SMEs when considering automation technologies in their facilities. Based on these efforts, this project builds on the knowledge gained to provide test methods and metrics for evaluating emerging technologies such as digital twins, process intelligence, and interfaces to enable new manufacturing capabilities and protocols. The project will work with SMEs, systems integrators, and MEP centers to identify the key obstacles to adoption of robotics. Emerging technologies that allow robots to operate in these high-mix, low-volume environments are difficult to select and integrate effectively without a basis for evaluation. NIST can leverage the measurement science being developed by projects in the Measurement Science for Robotics and Autonomous Systems (MSRAS) Program to inform systems integrators & small manufacturers, and help them select & integrate new technologies that allow robots to operate in environments that require frequent re-tasking.

Additionally, the project will develop tools that enable SMEs to evaluate industrial robots more easily, and thus help lower the barrier to entry for integration of automation systems. Emerging technologies such as Digital Twin can be a helpful tool for SMEs to evaluate new automation technologies. SMEs may also be interested in adopting AI technologies given current advances. However, guidelines and examples for use of these new technologies are needed with regards to industrial use cases, and this project can help provide such assistance.

Research Plan
The research plan focuses on three main aspects to achieve the goals outlined above. 

The current barriers to adoption of robotics & CETs in SMEs:
As the needs of SMEs evolve over time, the MSRAS Program should correspondingly update its research directions. This project will assist by planning and conducting a follow-up SME survey regarding CETs, specifically targeting stances on AI tools, Digital Twin and virtualization tools, and Humanoid robotics. Barriers to adoption will be identified by this survey, as well as areas where evaluation of existing automated workcells is needed. Additional discussions will be conducted with partner SMEs, integrators, and MEP centers as needed, to gain more in-depth perspectives. Findings will be disseminated to the MSRAS Program and provide a basis for new efforts by other projects.

Evaluation of emerging technologies for manufacturing applications:
Novel methods can provide advantages to SMEs in flexibility, re-tasking, usability, and other aspects. However, SMEs are reluctant to invest in untested technologies. This project will investigate new commercial and research products by conducting a survey of emerging technologies to assess the viability of new methods in manufacturing applications. This will be used to select the next focus areas for testing and development of metrics.

Technologies currently being examined include:

• Visualization tools including Digital Twin systems, where a virtual replica of a workcell can be created to accurately represent the physical workcell, updating in real time to reflect changes in the environment and process status. Such a virtual representation provides advantages in designing, commissioning, integrating, remote monitoring of equipment and processes, and enabling users to safely detect errors or evaluate production. However, the fidelity of such virtual environments has not been studied in-depth, and evaluation is needed to determine factors such as the accuracy or lag of the model.

• Augmented Reality, a consumer technology that could be well-utilized in industrial settings as a prognostics tool for robotics or for part inspection.

• Humanoid robots, which can provide human-like flexibility in reassignments while conducting tasks with greater precision and less fatigue than humans.

The project will survey use cases for the above technologies and create a repository of viable options. Additional emerging technologies that are gaining traction will also be documented and evaluated for future expansion of work.

Additionally, the project will pursue replication of an SME workcell to create a testbed for implementation and evaluation of these emerging technologies. The MSRAS program is lacking a robust, professionally-designed and integrated testbed that is available to all program staff. A state-of-the-art facility will result in more realistic test method development across projects.

Tools to assist SMEs in platform evaluation & selection:
The project will continue to develop accessible, easy-to-use tools to enable SMEs to self-evaluate their needs and select robot models for their applications. The first planned output is a web database of industrial robot arms available in the US. The database provides a high-level overview of their capabilities such that SMEs can narrow down platforms that meet their specifications. While already created, the project is planning to partner with an external organization to disseminate and maintain the website. Future iterations of the database will include end-effectors such as grippers and their compatibility with the included arms.

As the database begins to be used by SMEs, we predict that robot manufacturers will also see it as a useful resource for increasing their reach to small enterprises and thus be incentivized to promote their new models to the database. On release of the first iteration of the database, the project will hold discussion sessions with MEP centers and partner SMEs to obtain feedback about the utility of the tool and update it accordingly. Once the tool has more users, the project will survey stakeholders to solicit requests for additional tools that would be of use to small manufacturers as they expand into automation technologies.

Finally, this project will continue to create relationships and expand discussions with small manufacturers, systems integrators, and MEP centers that occurred during the previous five years of the project. The project will serve as a conduit between the MSRAS Program and the small manufacturer’s perspectives & needs, first by communicating the Automation Survey results, and later by organizing visits to & discussions with local SMEs. The project can further provide a channel via MEP centers and other external contacts in order to communicate results & useful tools from the other MSRAS Program’s projects.

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Recent Accomplishments
In 2023, the project conducted an extensive survey of Small-and-Medium Manufacturers regarding their current levels of automation. Questions were tailored to the specific manufacturing industry of each respondent, and data was collected on the manual vs. automated level of industry-specific tasks and processes. The project worked with the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership to disseminate the survey to all 51 MEP Centers across the US. The survey provided relevant insights into small manufacturing across the US and in-depth analysis is ongoing. The full results will help frame the future directions of the project and the MSMR program.