A semantic infrastructure for advanced manufacturing

Lead Research Organisation: University of Huddersfield
Department Name: Sch of Computing and Engineering

Abstract

We are stepping into a new era of digitalisation. In this new era machines will communicate and exchange large amounts of data to ensure they can work harmoniously and collaboratively with little human intervention. Current machines use symbolic language to represent the data, but they cannot directly interpret its meaning. As a result, information loss and incorrect interpretation can often happen during communication. To improve manufacturing intelligence, we need the manufacturing system to "understand" the data, which we refer to as "semantics" of the data. If the manufacturing system can be represented at a semantic level, the data will become knowledge to the machine and enable it to be ready for exchange, interrogation and reuse. There is current work taking place to upgrade manufacturing systems to a semantic level but this is still at an early and enabling stage. This fellowship aims to effect a step change in manufacturing intelligence, to support rigorous semantic exchanges between different manufacturing phases, and to allow formalisation and reuse of new/existing knowledge from advanced manufacturing.

The proposed research will build a novel semantic infrastructure for advanced manufacturing by supporting knowledge representation, interrogation, reasoning and exchange for smart design, manufacturing and measurement of advanced products. The focus will be on the development of a toolbox to formalise knowledge in/between design, manufacturing and measurement, especially for additive manufacturing (AM). The resulting semantic infrastructure will allow the machine to "interpret" the meaning of the data/information. To be more specific: how the design parameters (geometries, tolerances and materials) are related to each other; how the design parameters relate with the AM process/post process parameters (layer thickness, build orientation); and how the design and process parameters contribute to the measurement details (methods, calibration, etc.). The work will provide a new universal language for any data/information involved in a manufacturing value chain, and will permit a comprehensive infrastructure to digitalise the fast growing AM industry.

Planned Impact

It is expected that the proposed work will have economic impact as well as benefiting industrial and academic communities. The novel semantic infrastructure will provide a smart language to formalise AM knowledge at different stages, providing a well-suited knowledge management tool to enable right-first-time AM production. The proposed technology may open an untraveled path in providing a smart toolbox to enable designers, AM engineers and inspectors to truly communicate with each other in an intelligent, robust and productive way.

Working closely with industry partners (Reliance Precision, Renishaw and NPL) the proposed programme will develop customised knowledge blocks to support decision-making and semantic exchange. Using the industry partner's expertise in AM design, process/post process control and measurement solutions as an input, customised knowledge blocks can then be developed using the semantic toolbox. The developed semantic exchange protocol will ensure that the knowledge blocks can be exchanged between different production stages. Equipped with the developed reasoning mechanism, AM designers and engineers can interrogate the knowledge blocks to retrieve answers such as how each design parameter is related with specific process parameters, and how to choose the series of measurement parameters from the specification. It will also enable an accurate interpretation from the design semantics to the process control semantics, and from the design semantics to the measurement semantics. Right-first-time of designing and process parameters can then be ensured, therefore greatly reducing power usage and failure rate, lowering the cost of production and making a more environmentally-friendly manufacturing technology. It is also expected that the developed semantic infrastructure will facilitate a quicker adoption for SME's in manufacturing, as the development of customised knowledge blocks will reduce the cost of employing skilled and experienced AM designers, engineers and inspectors of which there is a national and shortage.

Advanced manufacturing and industrial digital technologies will directly benefit from the novel semantic infrastructure. The proposed work will also be beneficial to those in the interdisciplinary areas where advanced informatics is applied in different disciplines such as biological informatics, chemical informatics, healthcare informatics and smart cities. To demonstrate the great potential of the semantic infrastructure to a wider academic community, visits to academic partners (University of Sheffield, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China) are planned to exchange expertise and share knowledge. Throughout the duration of the fellowship, academic engagement and dissemination activities such as publications in multidisciplinary journals, presentations at conferences, seminars and workshops are scheduled.

To promote the general public's understanding of our research and how the research will impact the economy, the PI and team will engage with the general public via hosting workshops, presenting our research outputs at public research activities at UoH, seeking media opportunities through UoH's Press Office, and sharing our research highlights and vision through the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) network, LinkedIn and other engineering and science news bulletins.

Publications

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Pagani L (2020) Characterisation of diamond abrasive grains of grinding tools using industrial X-ray computed tomography in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

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Shi P (2021) Intersecting Machining Feature Localization and Recognition via Single Shot Multibox Detector in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics

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Qin Y (2021) Status, issues, and future of computer-aided part orientation for additive manufacturing in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

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Qi Q (2022) A mathematical foundation to support bidirectional mappings between digital models: an application of multi-scale modelling in manufacturing in Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

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Shi P (2022) Highly interacting machining feature recognition via small sample learning in Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

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Qin Y (2023) Selection of materials in metal additive manufacturing via three-way decision-making in The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

 
Description A prototype of smart semantic toolbox, named CatLab has been developed to help anyone to represent their own domain knowledge into a machine-readable form. The current version of CatLab v1.0, is under continues development and new functionalities have been gradually developed and then enclosed into CatLab. New research methods were also applied to aid with smart decision-making in the additive manufacturing. For example, a series of deep neural network frameworks named MsvNet, SsdNet, RefineDet) have been developed to automatically recognise both single and multi-features (also highly interacting features ) of a 3D model with much improved accuracy and requires only small training samples; and a series of multiple criteria decision-making technologies based on fuzzy set have been developed to find the optimal build orientation for additive manufacturing.
Exploitation Route Working closely with industry partners (Renishaw, NIST and NPL) the programme will develop customised knowledge blocks to support decision-making and semantic exchange. Using the industry partner's expertise in AM design, process/post process control and measurement solutions as an input, customised knowledge blocks can then be developed using the semantic toolbox.
Part of the Pathways to Impact activities will focus on academic engagement and dissemination within the digital manufacturing communities, and various visit to academic partners are planned. The research team will attend national and international advanced manufacturing related conferences to disseminate research findings through oral presentations and posters. The group will also participate in seminars and workshops led by AM companies and academics. Further research results will be presented to manufacturing/metrology networks, engineering and science society news bulletins.
Sectors Aerospace

Defence and Marine

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Healthcare

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology

 
Description National and International standardisation provided a valuable route for dissemination and also provided essential network of informed experts to form new industrial requirements and ideas. As the PI is a member of BSI Technical Committees AMT_4, TPR/1/1, TPR/1/8, and TPR/1/9, and an expert member of ISO TC/213 AG12 (Mathematical support group), WG15 (GPS extraction and filtration techniques), WG16 (Areal and profile surface texture), ISO TC/184 SC4/WG 26 (Ontology-based interoperability) and ISO TC/184 - IEC/TC 65 JWG21 (Smart Manufacturing Reference Models), key findings in this grant (CSL and CatLab) have been presented, discussed, and influencing policy makers in BSI and ISO/TC 213, users of which includes all the world's major manufactures. In particular, CSL and CatLab have been proposed as the most suitable tool to develop a formal, logical and mathematical structure for the work of ISO/TC 213 and the development of its standards/documents.
First Year Of Impact 2022
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description APPLICATION OF IEC 63339 TO SMART MANUFACTURING REFERENCE MODELS
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact The development of a technical report on applying IEC 63339 to smart manufacturing aims to standardize and improve practices within the industry. This effort focuses on providing methods and guidance for creating interoperable, efficient, and innovative smart manufacturing systems. Key impacts include: 1) Interoperability: Ensuring seamless integration of diverse systems and components; 2) Innovation: Offering a roadmap for incorporating advanced technologies; 3) Efficiency: Streamlining production processes to reduce waste and costs; 4) Global Standards Compliance: Facilitating access to international markets by aligning with global regulatory requirements; 5) Quality and Reliability: Enhancing product quality, customer satisfaction, and trust; 6) Sustainability: Promoting environmentally friendly manufacturing practices; 7) Economic Growth: Stimulating job creation in high-tech sectors and enhancing global competitiveness.
 
Description BS 8888 drafting
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Updating the British Standard BS 8888 can have a notable economic impact by enhancing efficiency and reducing errors in manufacturing and engineering, improving product quality, and ensuring compatibility with international standards. This fosters innovation, increases global competitiveness, and can lead to cost savings. It also encourages the adoption of new technologies and practices, potentially creating high-value jobs and opening new markets. While initial investments may be required for compliance and training, the long-term benefits include stronger economic growth and sustainability.
 
Description International Exchanges 2021 Cost Share (Italy only)
Amount £11,950 (GBP)
Funding ID IEC\R2\212033 
Organisation The Royal Society 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2022 
End 03/2024
 
Description Huazhong University of Science and Technology 
Organisation Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Country China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Technical expertise
Collaborator Contribution Case studies, knowledge and data
Impact N/A
Start Year 2019
 
Description National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) 
Organisation National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)
Country United States 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Our expertise on implementing category theory into a semantic language, and applying it on real cases in engineering, especially on surface texture design and measurement.
Collaborator Contribution Their expertise of category theory (mathematician), and application experience on system modelling.
Impact Expected outcome: 1. A new version of a smart surface texture information system to be developed jointly with NIST. 2. A joint research paper entitle "category theory for metrology". The goal of this paper was to combine the work of Huddersfield work on CSL with the CQL. The idea is to show use of CT at different levels of the problem of verifying the geometric specification for the manufactured part. 3. Joint research project to be proposed. This is indeed a multi-disciplinary collaboration, which brings researchers from manufacturing, mathematics, computer science and system engineering.
Start Year 2019
 
Description National Physical Laboratory NPL 
Organisation National Physical Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Technical expertise
Collaborator Contribution Input into the research direction for the PDRA and PhD students; Hosing one or more researchers at NPL for up to one month; Case studies and data; Testing of toolbox components; Aligned and complementary research and development.
Impact Data science, manufacturing
Start Year 2019
 
Description Reliance 
Organisation Reliance Precision Limited
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Technical expertise
Collaborator Contribution Case studies, provide advice and knowledge.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2019
 
Description Renishaw 
Organisation Renishaw PLC
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Technical expertise
Collaborator Contribution Cade studies on Additive manufacturing, training of AM machines.
Impact Additive manufacturing
Start Year 2019
 
Description The Polytechnic University of Milan 
Organisation Polytechnic University of Milan
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Our expertise on a smart semantic language, and the development of smart databases on manufacturing.
Collaborator Contribution Their expertise of onotology-based factory data model, and rich experience on factory case studies.
Impact We are currently working on a joint paper on "A coherent synchronisation of data model in manufacturing using delta lenses".
Start Year 2019
 
Description University of Sheffield 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Technical expertise
Collaborator Contribution Technical expertise, case studies.
Impact Manufacturing
Start Year 2019
 
Description A series of collaborative research meetings with NIST 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We are having a series of collaborative research meetings every two weeks since Nov 2019. Together we explore and study the use of category theory to represent the semantics in metrology domain, starting from using profile surface texture as an example.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023
 
Description A series of collaborative research meetings with the Polytechnic University of Milan and CNR-STIIMA 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We are having a series of collaborative meetings every two weeks. The starting point of our collaborative researh initiated with a collaboration paper entitled "Multi-Scale Modelling of Manufacturing Systems Using Ontologies and Delta-Lenses" (target journal CIRP Annal 2021), by combining our expertise on a smart semantic language and the development of smart databases on manufacturing, and their expertise of ontology-based factory data model, and rich experience on factory case studies.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023
 
Description Academic Collaborators' Visit to University of Bristol 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Prof Marcello Urgo and Dr Walter Terkaj visit University of Bristol, School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering, on Nov., 2023
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Ada Lovelace Day Lecture 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact I have delivered a public lecture on the Ada Lovelace Day, entitled "The Power of Abstraction - Using Mathematics to Simplify the Digital World" on 11th October, 2022. This Discover Lecture was set to give you a glance into a branch of new research led by Dr Qunfen Qi, who will demonstrate how mathematical modelling can help us design, control and manage complex digital systems in a simple and intelligent way.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://youtu.be/3XSBWivHf4Y
 
Description Applied Category Theory Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was our first academic conference on applied category theory, in which the majority participants were mathematicians and computer scientists. We discovered how category theory was applied in mathematics and computer science, mostly in programming and artificial intelligence. We have also demonstrated our application case in engineering, which of interest to many mathematicians who is seeking a real world application of category theory.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/ACT2019/
 
Description BSI AMT_4 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact My first BSI AMT_4 meeting as a new committee member of BSI AMT_4.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description BSI Committee meeting - Joint TPR/1/3 and TPR/1/8 meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Around 60 experts attended the BSI Committee meeting (virtual) - Joint TPR/1/3 Digital product definition (3D), and TPR/1/8, BS 8888 Technical product specification meeting on 14th July 2022.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description BSI Committee meeting TPR/1/1 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact UK delegation briefing meeting for ISO/TC 213 September 2022 meetings on 23rd August 2022.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description BSI TPR/1/8 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact 68 BSI TPR/1/8 members' national committee meeting
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description BSI TPR1/8 meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Committee members of BSI TPR1/8 discussing revision of BS 8888 drafting.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description BSI YP Skills Workshop: Communicating with Impact 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This BSI Young Professionals Skills Workshop: Communicating with Impact workshop has taken place on 10 November 2022. The workshop is in partnership with Do Think Do to gain insight into some of the key conversations involved in standards development and develop skills that will help us communicate with impact and influence. Core skills in standards development and in career development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description CIRP Winter Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was invited by Prof X. Jane Jiang and Prof David Whitehouse to attend the 2023 CIRP Winter Meeting in Paris from February 22 to 24, 2023, at the "Maison de la Mutualité." As one of the co-chairs of CIRP CAT 2024, which is to be held at Huddersfield 26th-28th June 2024, I was invited r to report the conference progress to the CIRP STC Dn members. The update included important dates, scientific committee, keynotes, website, and travelling information.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.cirp.net
 
Description CIRP Winter Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was invited by Prof X. Jane Jiang and Prof David Whitehouse to attend the 2024 CIRP Winter Meeting in Paris from February 22-23rd, 2024, at the "Maison de la Mutualité." As one of the co-chairs of CIRP CAT 2024, which is to be held at Huddersfield 26th-28th June 2024, I was invited to report the conference progress to the CIRP STC Dn members.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Collaboration meeting with NPL 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Group of two (Dr Qunfen Qi and Mr Yuchu Qin) have had a two days intensive meeting with Data Science Group at NPL (including seven member), to discuss collaborative research related to smart database, ontology and category semantic language. Prof Alistair Forbes has NPL's current vision of "Data Science for Metrology", and Dr Qunfen Qi has presented on "COL and its Applications". Both parties shared a common interest in the strong expressiveness of COL and its great potential in representing data/information/knowledge in metrology. Further actions were then planed, including organising a joint workshop by NPL, UoH, University of Strathclyde and the Alan Turing Institute; further engagement between NPL and UoH; introduction to the British Computer Society, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Collaboration meeting with Renishaw 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A group of six met at Renishaw's headquarter (Wotton-under-Edge). Both parties have demonstrated and introduced related work. An in-depth discussion was carried out to explore possible use of the categorical semantics in Design for Manufacture (DfM) group of Renishaw.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Collaboration meeting with University of Manchester 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We had a meeting with Dr Ke Chen, a computer scientist from School of computer Science, University of Mancherter, to discuss any potential collaboration work with our Math Group. The main purpose of this meeting was to introduce each other (Dr Ke Chen, Prof Xiangqian Jiang, Prof Paul Scott, Dr Qunfen Qi, Dr Peizhi Shi), to build common knowledge on each other's work, to find common ground on where we can work together, and to plan for the next step.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Collaboration visit from Northwestern University, USA 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A group of three academics (Prof Jian Cao, Prof Kornel Ehmann and Dr Ping Guo) from Northwestern University have had a formal academic visit for three days to our research group. Prof Cao has introduced their work on flexible MFG systems; Prof Kornel has introduced their work on surface engineering; Dr Guo has introduced their work on structural coloration and levitation. From the Huddersfield side, Prof Jiang has introduced our Hub and research theme; Dr Qunfen Qi has introduced her work on Category Semantics and its applications; Dr Tong has introduced their group work on nano manufacturing. We then subsequently discussed on collaborations and exchange.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description EPSRC Women in Engineering Society member's Inaugural Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was the first EPSRC WES member's meeting, also the first similar type of meeting EPSRC has ever held. During the meeting, Katherine from the WES given a brief introduction of WES and its different types of events. Then the new head of ED&I from RAEng Poly given a brief report of ED&I (many statistics are enclosed), and introduction of a set of toolkit that RAEng has developed regarding ED&I issues. After that Laura from EPSRC given a brief report of ED&I policy and stat in the EPSRC.
After that, each member given a mini presentation (15 mins) to introduce themselves; what have you done so far in the EDI field, including any activity since/resulting from having been awarded the membership? Why did you get involved with the EPSRC WES call? What are you planning to achieve with your membership? There were in total nine members from University of Bristol, Coventry University, University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, University of Surrey and University of Huddersfield.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description EPSRC Women's Engineering Society Member's Evaluation Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact As an EPSRC sponsored WES member, I am invited to the EPSRC WES members evaluation meeting on Wednesday 3rd June from 10.00 - 16.00. Due to the inevitable disruption caused by COVID-19 and the transition of the EPSRC WES scheme between portfolio managers, EPSRC has recognised that some of the initial aims of this scheme, namely the regular cohort meetings, have not been able to be achieved during this first year. As a result, our WES memberships have been extended for another year. This meeting, which was initially going to be a wrap-up meeting, has been converted into a mid-term evaluation meeting whereby we can all take stock on what has happened over the past year and what could be implemented within the next.

During the meeting, Heather Clarke is a Women's Engineering Society Top 50 Women in Engineering, she given a brief introduction of her career journey, her experience of ED&I in engineering, and provided very insightful advice for women in engineering.

After that, each member given a mini presentation to summaries what they have managed to achieve over the course of their membership, thinking back to their original goals for this scheme, detailing any highlights or learning points. After that, Jennifer Channell from EPSRC introduce the EPSRC/UKRI Engineering Theme EDI Update.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description EPSRC-WES ambassador for women in engineering 1st Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 30 EPSRC sponsored WES member attended the first cohort meeting in Swindon, 22nd September, 2023.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description EPSRC-WES cohort meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The third cohort meeting of EPSRC-WES ambassador.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description EPSRC-WES cohort meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Second cohort Meeting of EPSRC-WES ambassador
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description ISO TC/213 Chairman Iain Macleod visit Huddersfield 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Iain Macleod, the chairman of ISO Technical Committee 213, which is responsible for international standards for Geometrical Tolerancing and Geometrical Product Specification, visited our research group. We have represented our work, and discussed possibilities of introduce of our work to ISO committee.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 Core Team Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Core Team member from ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 attended a meeting to discuss the progress of the ongoing technical report.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 Core Team Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Core Team member from ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 attended a meeting to discuss the progress of the ongoing technical report.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 Core Team Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Core Team member from ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 attended a meeting to discuss the progress of the ongoing technical report.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact All committee members from ISO/TC 184 -IEC/TC 65 JWG21 attended the quarterly meeting to discuss the progress of the ongoing technical report, 16-19th January, 2024
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description ISO/TC 213 AG12 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact ISO/EC 213 AG12 2023 September Meeting
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description ISO/TC 213 AG12 Task force meetings 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Two ISO/TC 213 AG12 Task Force meetings were held during July 2021 and Sept. 2021, and Feb. 2022, during which the AG12 group of expert were discussing the structure of GPS and how to improve the GPS standard system.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022
 
Description Interview for an online research story 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Me and Dr Luca Pagani were interviewed by John Ramsdin, our public relations manager from the University. John will write a story about our conference paper at the 15th CIRP Conference on Computer Aided Tolerancing - CIRP CAT 2018, which was taken place at Milan, Italy. The story has sparked many interests from industry and media.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2018/july/additive-manufacturing-smart-language/
 
Description Invited talk at CIRP GA STC Dn Technical session 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Dr Qunfen Qi has given a talk entitled "A smart semantic language for Digital Manufacturing" during the STC Dn meeting at the 69th CIRP General Assembly in Birmingham, UK, 22 August 2019. In the talk, category semantic language was introduced for any data/information involved in a manufacturing value chain and it will permit a comprehensive foundation to digitalise advanced manufacturing. Various test cases were demonstrated to show how the smart language can be used, and benefits for such applications were discussed. Based on the test cases, particularly focus was on the discussion of applying the language towards the digital twin approach, and exploration of any possible test cases via potential collaborations. The talk has received a very positive feedback and attracted many interests from both academic and industry. This has initiated a collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.cirp.net/meetings-conferences/about-cirp-events/general-assembly.html
 
Description Invited talk at Huaqiao University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Me and Professor Dame Xiangqian Jiang visited Huaqiao University from 14th -15th December 2019. We visited the Institute of Manufacturing Engineering, had a lab tour and I have given a talk entitled "A smart Semantic Language for Digital Manufacturing" for the researchers, postgraduate students and undergraduate students. We then carried out a short research meeting with researchers at the Institute of Manufacturing Engineering. Possible collaborative research directions were discussed, and further visits from both parties were then arranged.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) academic visit 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Three researchers from the Information Technology Lab of NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA) reached us as we share a common interest in applications of category theory. While they study potential applications for category theory to address problems in data management, interoperability and systems modelling, they are quite interested in the work that Dr Qunfen Qi and her group have done, and the fact that Dr Qi have implemented some of the ideas in practice is especially exciting. Subsequently they travelled to Huddersfield to have a whole day academic meeting with us on 12th July, 2019. During the day, Dr Qunfen Qi has introduced how category theory was used in a real engineering case, i.e. providing the foundation for a smart database of surface texture. Dr Spencer Breiner then briefly introduced their work at NIST in data management, interoperability and systems modelling. We were then established a very detailed collaboration work plan, starting with writing a joint paper on category theory for metrology, then follow on trip to NIST for further engagement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description RAEng international women in engineering 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Royal Academy of Engineering celebrates International Women in Engineering Day, which takes place on 23 June 2018 at London. The event celebrates the achievements of women in engineering from all backgrounds on an international scale, and encourages more girls to consider a career in the field.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Research collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Follow on with the interest from Professor Marcello Urgo from the Polytechnic University of Milan, we have arranged a video meeting with Professor Urgo and Dr Walter Terkaj on 15th Oct. 2019 to discuss a collaborative work on ontology for manufacturing. During the meeting, we have decided to define a collaboration area in the field of the use of tracking/versioning approaches for the modelling of elements in a factory and the use of multi-level/multi-scale approaches in the modelling of manufacturing systems. We then shared our data and later further extended our current focus to "a coherent synchronisation of data model in manufacturing using delta lenses".
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Research visit to NIST 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Me and Professor Dame Xiangqian Jiang visited NIST at Gaithersburg, MD, USA, from 30th October to 3rd November 2019. This is an official academic visit which was planned during the last visit of NIST members to the University of Huddersfield. Apart from the Information Technology Lab, we have visited Additive manufacturing Metrology testbed at the Intelligent Systems division, AM data science group at the System integration division, and the surface metrology lab at the Sensor science division. During each visit, we have carried out very detailed discussion about our common research interest and questions. One meeting was arranged with the AM data science group to discuss how category theory can be used for AM data/information representation and integration. Most importantly, we have carried out a sequence of meetings with Professor Eswaran Subrahmanian, Dr Spencer Breiner and Dr Blake Pollard. The focus include: 1. Discussion of the collaborative paper on "category theory for metrology"; 2. An industrial meeting with CEO and Dr Ryan Wisnesky from Conexus to discuss potential collaboration with Conexus and possible industrial cases; 3. A detailed collaboration plan was finalised. We then arranged regular video meeting via BlueJean every fortnight.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Research visits to Shanghai Jiaotong University and Fudan University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We have had a visit to Shanghai Jiaotong University, Institute of Intelligent Manufacturing and Information Engineering on 13th December 2019. We have had a meeting with researchers at the Institute of Intelligent Manufacturing and Information Engineering to discuss collaborative research plans. I later visited department of Optical Science and Engineering, Fudan University, and had a lab tour of the optical science lab.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Sub working group under ISO/TC 213 AG12 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A small research group on median statistics is formed under the ISO/TC 213 AG12 task force on 'fundamental structure of ISO documents'. The research group includes Prof Vijay Srinivasan for NIST, and Prof Edward P. Morse from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, myself, and my PhD student Kexin Yin. We have been meeting regularly every month to discuss whether there is a role for median statistics in verification of geometrical product specifications.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022,2023
 
Description The 29th meeting of ISO/TC 213 AG12 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The 29th meeting of ISO/TC 213 AG12 was held during 14th-15th Feb. 2022, with ISO members from UK, Japan, France, Germany, China, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The 30th ISO/TC 213 WG15 meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 30th ISO/TC 213 WG15 meeting was held during 15th-17th Sept. 2022, with ISO experts from UK, Germany, Denmark, France, China, Japan, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The 30th ISO/TC 213 WG16 meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 30th ISO/TC 213 WG16 meeting was held during 26th-28th Sept. 2022, with ISO experts from UK, Germany, Denmark, France, China, Japan, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The 30th meeting of ISO/TC 213 AG12 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 30th meeting of ISO/TC 213 AG12 was held during 12th-4th Sept. 2022 via Zoom, with ISO members from UK, Japan, France, Germany, China, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The 31st ISO/TC 213 AG12 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 31st ISO/TC 213 AG12 meeting was held on 2nd March 2023 in London (hybrid), with ISO experts from UK, USA, Germany, Denmark, France, China, Japan, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description The 31st ISO/TC 213 WG15 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 31st ISO/TC 213 AG12 meeting was held on 6th March 2023 in London (hybrid), with ISO experts from UK, USA, Germany, Denmark, France, China, Japan, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description The 31st ISO/TC 213 WG16 Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The 31st ISO/TC 213 WG16 meeting was held during 3rd -4th March 2023 in London (hybrid), with ISO experts from UK, USA, Germany, Denmark, France, China, Japan, etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description The Queen's Anniversary Prize Ceremony 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact AT a special prize-giving event at St James's Palace London, the University of Huddersfield's Centre for Precision Technologies was officially awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize, for its innovative and ground-breaking research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.queensanniversaryprizes.org.uk
 
Description UK Manufacturing Forum: Driving forward the priorities 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The second UK Manufacturing Forum event in December 2018 at Warwick set a clear agenda for Government, academia and research technology organisations. The event reported the progress made since the last UK Manufacturing Forum and how we can work together to pull through four of the technologies that will underpin a sustainable high value manufacturing future for the UK: Digital, Composites Manufacturing, Metrology and Additive Manufacturing.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://hvm.catapult.org.uk/news-events-gallery/news/uk-manufacturing-forum-driving-forward-the-prio...
 
Description Visit Leeds University 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We have had a visit to Leeds University, Schools of Mechanical Engineering and School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering on 18th October 2018. We have had a meeting with Professor Shane Xie to explore potential collaboration opportunity, and had a lab tour of Robotics and Autonomous System lab.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018