Made Smarter Innovation - Research Centre for Smart, Collaborative Industrial Robotics
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Wolfson Sch of Mech, Elec & Manufac Eng
Abstract
The UK has fallen significantly behind other countries when it comes to adopting robotics/automation within factories. Collaborative automation, that works directly with people, offers fantastic opportunities for strengthening UK manufacturing and rebuilding the UK economy. It will enable companies to increase productivity, to be more responsive and resilient when facing external pressures (like the Covid-19 pandemic) to protect jobs and to grow.
To enable confident investment in automation, we need to overcome current fundamental barriers. Automation needs to be easier to set up and use, more capable to deal with complex tasks, more flexible in what it can do, and developed to safely and intuitively collaborate in a way that is welcomed by existing workers and wider society.
To overcome these barriers, the ISCF Research Centre in Smart, Collaborative Robotics (CESCIR) has worked with industry to identify four priority areas for research: Collaboration, Autonomy, Simplicity, Acceptance. The initial programme will tackle current fundamental challenges in each of these areas and develop testbeds for demonstration of results. Over the course of the programme, CESCIR will also conduct responsive research, rapidly testing new ideas to solve real world manufacturing automation challenges.
CESCIR will create a network of academia and industry, connecting stakeholders, identifying challenges/opportunities, reviewing progress and sharing results. Open access models and data will enable wider academia to further explore the latest scientific advances. Within the manufacturing industry, large enterprises will benefit as automation can be brought into traditionally manual production processes. Similarly, better accessibility and agility will allow more Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from automation, improving their competitiveness within the global market.
To enable confident investment in automation, we need to overcome current fundamental barriers. Automation needs to be easier to set up and use, more capable to deal with complex tasks, more flexible in what it can do, and developed to safely and intuitively collaborate in a way that is welcomed by existing workers and wider society.
To overcome these barriers, the ISCF Research Centre in Smart, Collaborative Robotics (CESCIR) has worked with industry to identify four priority areas for research: Collaboration, Autonomy, Simplicity, Acceptance. The initial programme will tackle current fundamental challenges in each of these areas and develop testbeds for demonstration of results. Over the course of the programme, CESCIR will also conduct responsive research, rapidly testing new ideas to solve real world manufacturing automation challenges.
CESCIR will create a network of academia and industry, connecting stakeholders, identifying challenges/opportunities, reviewing progress and sharing results. Open access models and data will enable wider academia to further explore the latest scientific advances. Within the manufacturing industry, large enterprises will benefit as automation can be brought into traditionally manual production processes. Similarly, better accessibility and agility will allow more Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to benefit from automation, improving their competitiveness within the global market.
Organisations
- Loughborough University (Lead Research Organisation)
- Cambrian Intelligence (Project Partner)
- Fanuc Robotics (U K) Ltd (Project Partner)
- Electroimpact UK Limited (UK) (Project Partner)
- Teknek Limited (Project Partner)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute (Project Partner)
- MAKAR Ltd (Project Partner)
- Scorpion Vision Limited (Project Partner)
- Rolls-Royce (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Be-St (Project Partner)
- Scottish Agricultural Org Society (SAOS) (Project Partner)
- KUKA (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Expert Tooling and Automation Limited (Project Partner)
- National Institute of Industrial Engineering (Project Partner)
- myenergi Ltd. (Project Partner)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Project Partner)
- Liberty Produce (Project Partner)
- Ultraleap (Project Partner)
- Stewart Milne Group (Project Partner)
- Arrival Ltd (Project Partner)
- CRRC (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Claromech Limited (Project Partner)
- IntelliDigest (Project Partner)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Project Partner)
- SP Technology Automation and Robotics (Project Partner)
- Sunamp (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Shadow Robot (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- GKN (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Norscot Joinery Limited (Project Partner)
- CNC Robotics Ltd (Project Partner)
- Constellium (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Measurement Solutions Ltd. (Project Partner)
- Spirit AeroSystems (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Airbus (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Royal Institute of Technology (Project Partner)
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd (Project Partner)
- Ocado Group (Project Partner)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (Project Partner)
- True Position Robotics Ltd (Project Partner)
- RAR UK Automation Ltd. (Project Partner)
- University of Patras (Project Partner)
- Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation Centre (Project Partner)
- iRob International Ltd. (Project Partner)
- HAL Robotics Ltd (UK) (Project Partner)
- Manufacturing Technology Centre (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Inovo Robotics (Project Partner)
- HSSMI Ltd (Project Partner)
- BAE Systems (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
Li Q
(2022)
Biobased and Programmable Electroadhesive Metasurfaces.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Xu C
(2023)
Electric Field-Driven Dielectrophoretic Elastomer Actuators
in Advanced Functional Materials
Van M
(2022)
Global finite-time cooperative control for multiple manipulators using integral sliding mode control
in Asian Journal of Control
Babu M
(2023)
Object Shape Error Modelling and Simulation During Early Design Phase by Morphing Gaussian Random Fields
in Computer-Aided Design
Wharton P
(2023)
Tetraflex: A Multigait Soft Robot for Object Transportation in Confined Environments
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Yue T
(2023)
Shape-Conformable Suction Cups With Controllable Adaptive Suction on Complex Surfaces
in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
Van M
(2023)
Adaptive Fuzzy Fault Tolerant Control for Robot Manipulators with Fixed-Time Convergence
in IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems
Giannaccini M
(2023)
A Bioinspired Active Robotic Simulator of the Human Respiratory System
in IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics
Luo C
(2023)
Modeling Variation in Multi-Station Compliant Assembly Using Parametric Space Envelope
in Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering
| Title | Data for AFM dielectrophoretic gel |
| Description | Included here are data to support the paper: Ciqun Xu, Charl F. J. Faul, Majid Taghavi, and Jonathan Rossiter, Electric Field-driven Dielectrophoretic Elastomer Actuators, Advanced Functional Materials (2023), DOI:10.1002/adfm.202208943 |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/239k7m1nddrq72vaxbsfis2mf8/ |
| Title | Data for GelBat paper - RoboSoft 2023 |
| Description | Included here are data to support the paper: H.Y. Chen, A. Keller, A. T. Conn, J. Rossiter. GelBat: An Edible Gelatin-Based Battery. RoboSoft (2023). |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/2c4017s8543i2od5qdx3osoqd/ |
| Title | Data for ICRA 2023 - variable stiffness unit |
| Description | Data for ICRA2023 paper: Tianqi Yue, Tsam Lung You, Hemma Philamore, Hermes Bloomfield-Gadêlha and Jonathan Rossiter, A Silicone-sponge-based Variable-stiffness Device, 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/1m1aqxh299w2j20l7i8umgqwct/ |
| Title | Data for Robo-Squid paper - RoboSoft 2023 |
| Description | Data for paper: S. Firouznia, C. Xu, H. Philamore, J. Rossiter, Robo-Squid: Experimental investigation of pulsed jet propulsion based on magnetohydrodynamics, 2023 6th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics (ROBOSOFT) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/xfg77nkkatek2qqv8vz15qw30/ |
| Title | Data for SAP-BAM paper |
| Description | This repository contains data pertaining to the article: Saltwater-responsive bubble artificial muscles using superabsorbent polymers, Daniel Gosden, Richard Suphapol Diteesawat, Matthew Studley and Jonathan Rossiter, Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2022, doi: 10.3389/frobt.2022.960372. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/2raladk8u6pqu23o1jyc5rueeu/ |
| Title | Data for hygroscopic actuators |
| Description | Data supporting paper: A. Keller*, Q. Qi, Y*. Kumaresan, A. Conn, J. Rossiter, Biodegradable Humidity Actuators for Sustainable Soft Robotics using Deliquescent Hydrogels, IEEE RoboSoft 2023 |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/1vctpyervo0il2f4zfqeo05rd6/ |
| Title | Data for modular cellbot paper - RoboSoft 2023 |
| Description | Included here are data to support the paper: Ridhi Bansal, Helmut Hauser, Jonathan Rossiter, Self-reconfiguring Soft Modular Cellbots, 2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/2xnkxqqa7r5cc2rwdauepmqkdq/ |
| Title | Hydrogel-actuated Soft Sucker with Mucus Secretion |
| Description | Data for publication: Hydrogel-actuated Soft Sucker with Mucus Secretion, Tianqi Yue, Alex Keller, Daniel Gosden, Hermes Bloomfield-Gadelha and Jonathan Rossiter, Proc. RoboSoft 2023, Singapore, 3-7 April 2023 |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/2hzqiunnryl952q4acb9yf1va5/ |
| Description | 12th CIRP Conference on Photonic Technologies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A platform for ideas, opinions, perspectives, results and solutions concerning photonic technologies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.lane-conference.org/ |
| Description | Centre Launch Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Online launch meeting for the centre with industrial partner workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Digital Manufacturing Week |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Hosted by Made Smarter, the Smart Cobotics Centre had a stand at the event |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Discussions with Arrival, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the IRaaS project, which increased interest for future collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Discussions with Rolls-Royce |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the Centre's current projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Drone Demo |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Drones for Shape Inspection in Manufacturing |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | European Robotics Forum |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Annual forum of EU Robotics in Rotherdam |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | FLOW-3D World Users Conference 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Features application-specific tracks, advanced training sessions, in-depth technical customer presentations |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | ICALEO |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics ICALEO |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | In Person Meeting with AdQual |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | In Person meeting with Add Qual and tour of the facilities in Loughborough |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | In Person Meeting with AddQual |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | meeting in person with AddQual team at their head office |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | In Person Meeting with Bentley Motors |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Industry/Academic Meeting |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | In Person Meeting with Hapiton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Industry/Academic Meeting |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Laser Beam Welding Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition for beam delivery systems, sensor technologies and closed-loop control strategies for laser beam welding |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | MACH 2022 Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Industrial exhibition hosted by the Manufacturing Technologies Association |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.mta.org.uk/event/mach-2022 |
| Description | Made Smarter Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Webinar to share details of the Centre to others in the MSI umbrella and possible SME's that signed up to be part of the series |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/events/research-centre-for-smart-collaborative-industrial-robotics/ |
| Description | Manufacturing and Engineering Expo 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition organised by Made Smarter Innovation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Meeting with AD Business Solutions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the Centre's current projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Online Innovation/Collaborative Robotics Discussions with Rolls-Royce and The Manufacturing Technology Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Innovation discussions were held in relation to possible future collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Online meeting with Staubli |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the Centre's current projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Robotics and Automation Event @ The Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | We had a stand at this event and held discussions with visitors regarding possible collaboration in relation to the Centre's current projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Robotics and Automation: A New Perspective |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Exhibition and workshops exploring the opportunities and requirements for industrial robotics and automation in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Rolls-Royce Interns Visit to Intelligent Automation Lab |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A number of interns from Rolls-Royce visited the Intelligent Automation lab to see our robots and learn about our research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | SRPe Annual Conference Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Hosted a stand to showcase Strathclyde Robotics research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Visit by Inovo Robotics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | A representative visited the Intelligent Automation lab to up-date software on the Inovo Robots we have and to give demos to the team of its capabilities. Discussions were held about possible future collobaration with the Centre's projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Visit to Measurement Solutions, Derby |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the IRaaS project, which increased interest for future collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Visit to Toyota, Burnaston |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the Centre's current projects, which increased interest for future collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Visit to True Position Robotics, Nottingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Discussions regarding possible collaboration in relation to the IRaaS project, which increased interest for future collaboration |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |