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Led by scientists at Cardiff University, the three-year scheme will take advantage of the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). One main goal is to embed sensors into many everyday products, “intrinsically connecting” manufacturers, owners and devices to help adjust manufacturing processes and improve designs.
The team gave the example of a bike helmet which could text the owner’s phone if it detected a crack under the surface. The device could also instantly send data to the manufacturers, feeding back key information into the factory and making the next batch of helmets even safer.
“The current manufacturing process is limited by the inability to quickly and continuously refine product design based on a consumer’s experience, and simultaneously re-skill the human and robotic processes on the factory floor,” said project leader Pete Burnap. “Our new method will enable manufacturers to sense the experience of the product, building something based on its actual use rather than its intended use.”
The “Chatty Factory” project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, could potentially save time and money on consumer research, concept design, prototyping and manual labour on the factory floor, as well as providing ideas for new products.
The researchers from Cardiff, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Lancaster and Bath Spa universities will also develop artificial intelligence to process the large amounts of data, explore ways in which sensors can be successfully embedded in products and develop robots to re-skill factory floors. Each strand of the research “will be underpinned by the latest advances in cybersecurity” and consider the ethical use of human labour, the team added.
The work is "great to see," said Manufacturing Technologies Association technical manager Joshua Dugdale to Professional Engineering. " This technology could allow products to be developed, improved and updated far more rapidly, as manufacturers will have access to a wealth of real-time, real-world, user data... which could lead to product upgrades occurring in real time rather than having set release dates."
However, he said some "big issues" remain. Data ownership and transmission rights must be clarified for the technology to become commonplace, he said. The government's Industrial Digitalisation Review is a welcome step forward and will help harness "powerful" research from universities such as Cardiff and its partners, he added.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily reflect the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.