PFI:BIC Next Generation Real-Time Distributed Manufacturing Service Systems Using Digital Process Planning and GPU-Accelerated Parallel Computing

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

The research project will enable scaling of novel manufacturing analysis applications in a smart, human-centered manufacturing service system. This manufacturing service system will enable highly functioning relationships between a range of users, including service consumers (e.g., designers, entrepreneurs, makers) and service producers (e.g., manufacturers). Design organizations and new entrepreneurs have limited access to the advanced manufacturing processes needed for innovation due to longstanding barriers associated with: (1) cost and availability of advanced manufacturing platforms and (2) technical skill and experience needed to design manufacturable products in a correct-by-construction framework. While direct-to-print paradigms, such as 3D printing, have increased the capabilities for users to make parts directly from digital product designs, the capital equipment for manufacturing functional components are still housed in mostly private enterprise facilities. Additionally, challenges to accurately specify product manufacturing requirements remain as barriers toward facilitating large-scale, consumer-driven manufacturing services. Smart manufacturing service systems that address these persistent challenges will dramatically accelerate innovation across multiple industrial sectors by removing technological barriers for functional manufacture. The consumerization of manufacturing services will also enable manufacturers with excess production capacity to access a significantly broader customer base, facilitating stabilization of production capacity through decentralization of service demand. Democratization of access to manufacturing capabilities and the associated sharing economy benefits will lead to transformative advances in product realization for the US economy. To facilitate these collaborations, this research project leverages prior discovery for rapid, digital process planning based on novel hybrid dynamic tree representations and graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerated parallel computing. To implement this novel discovery in a distributed service system, the digital process planning method will provide product and process intelligence for each user class. Human subjects experiments and user requirements modeling will inform system design for user interface functionality, service consumer cognitive processing, service provider informational needs, and consumer-to-producer interaction requirements. The service system architecture will be designed to interface with users, facilitate user transactions, receive and shape input data, and enable archival functionality. To realize the foundational digital process planning discovery in a novel human-centered service system, new information models for manufacturing-related data and service provider production capabilities will be established. Advanced computational algorithms will also be derived for scaling GPU-accelerated process analyses in a many-user, cloud-based environment. Comprehensive system testing will inform efficacy of the underlying user requirement models, service system architecture, manufacturing information models and GPU-accelerated computing for generalized human-centered manufacturing service systems. The research project assembles a collaborative team of experts in the fields of manufacturing, design, computing and psychology and a diverse range of industrial partners and nonprofit agencies to realize a next-generation manufacturing service system. The lead institution is Georgia Tech with faculty from mechanical engineering, computing and psychology. The industrial partners, Tucker Innovations (small business), Mazak (large business), Morris South (large business), represent manufacturing technology developers and platform builders with interest in facilitating broad access of enterprise-level technologies to consumer end users. The partner industrial consortia, National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (non-profit), National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (non-profit) and Digital Manufacturing And Design Innovation Institute (non-profit), provide access to a strong membership base spanning many industrial sectors. Collaborations at Georgia Tech with The Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Vertically Integrated Projects Program and VentureLab will facilitate connections of research outcomes to educational outcomes for the broad community of makers.