This step-b proposal, led by the university of wisconsin madison in collaboration with the boeing company, is a response to the topic 7: aviation manufacturing of the NASA university leadership…

This is a $2,997,761.00 Cooperative Agreement awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Wisconsin - Madison, operating as the Research and Sponsored Programs division of the University of Wisconsin System. The contract is not a set-aside.

The award supports a project titled "Aviation Manufacturing" under NASA's University Leadership Initiative (ULI) program. The project aims to develop a human-robot collaboration platform to improve the efficiency, ergonomics, and safety of key aircraft manufacturing processes like riveting, composite fabrication, sanding, and interior furnishing installation. The work will involve modeling these processes, identifying tasks that can be automated, and developing novel control mechanisms and user interfaces to augment human capabilities. The project will be carried out over 4.5 years, with a completion date of January 31, 2024.

As the prime contractor, the University of Wisconsin - Madison will collaborate with The Boeing Company to execute this research and development effort, which is expected to yield advancements in both manufacturing technology and processes applicable to the aerospace industry.

This step-b proposal, led by the university of wisconsin madison in collaboration with the boeing company, is a response to the topic 7: aviation manufacturing of the NASA university leadership initiative (ULI) solicitation NNH18ZEA001N, targeting the following strategic thrust outcomes: .1. Manufacturing methods that reduce costs and increase the speed of aircraft manufacture, while maintaining or improving product quality and reliability; and .2. Producing products with the flexibility of custom manufacturing and the cost of mass production in order to quickly respond to different customer demands. .the proposed project aims to address the following central research question: how do we simultaneously improve the efficiency and flexibility of aviation manufacturing processes while enhancing the ergonomics and safety of human workers? The integration of collaborative robots into processes, such as riveting and composite fabrication, have historically been resistant to automation due to the high levels of variability in these processes and their reliance on human dexterity, cognitive, and sensory capabilities to meet the quality expectations of the industry. We posit that the answer lies not in automation, but in careful design of shared-control-based collaborative robots that can perform physical actions based on human guidance. These tools will augment human physical capabilities in consideration of tolerances for forceful exertions, repetitive motions, stressful postures, and hand-arm vibration, while capitalizing on exceptional human dexterity, sensory and cognitive capabilities. .in this project, we propose to develop a human-robot collaboration platform that follows a shared-control paradigm to augment and complement human capabilities, taking on actions that impose forceful exertions, repetitive motions, hand-arm vibration risk and awkward positions on them while exploiting human judgement, psychomotor and perceptual capabilities. We aim to the efficiency and ergonomics of manual processes that have been particularly resistant to standardization and automation and that often pose high levels of health and safety risk through the process-centered development of a flexible platform that will provide skilled aviation technicians with intelligent assistance. In collaboration with boeing, we will use specific aircraft manufacturing processes, including (1) riveting, (2) composite fabrication, (3) sanding, and (4) the installation of interior furnishings, to drive our exploration of open technical questions in human-robot collaboration and industrial process design. The resulting solutions will serve as novel technical advancements in collaborative robotics that can be applied to other processes in aerospace manufacturing and adapted to be used in other forms of manufacturing or physical collaboration. .the proposed research will utilize a novel and interdisciplinary approach that draws on knowledge, methods, and tools from robotics, human factors, and human-computer interaction. This approach will involve a five-phase research process of (1) modeling key aviation manufacturing processes, (2) identifying what aspects of the processes can and should be automated using optimization-based task allocation methods, (3) developing novel control mechanisms, user interfaces, and end-effector designs that augment human capabilities in these processes, (4) carrying out laboratory evaluations of the developed technologies, and (5) demonstrating the developed solutions at boeing laboratories to facilitate technology transfer. The outcome of the proposed work will include advancements in both manufacturing technology and manufacturing processes in the context of aerospace. We aim to create technical solutions that can be adapted and inferred to improve other manufacturing processes, thus maximizing the immediate and long-term impact of the proposed research for aerospace manufacturing. .