RIME_Appendices.docx

Robots In Manufacturing Environments Manufacturing Innovation Institute (RIME-MII) Solicitation

Appendices for Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)

W911NF-16-R-0028

Table of Contents

Appendix A: Project Definitions, Overview and Technical Objectives Project Definitions

Applied Research and Development (R&D): Applied R&D includes efforts that attempt to determine and exploit the potential of scientific discoveries or improvements in technology, such as new materials, devices, methods and processes. Applied R&D includes manufacturability, and spans Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 4 through 7 and Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRLs) 4 through 7. Applied R&D within the context of this FOA seeks to solve specific manufacturing challenges related to advanced robotics and associated technologies as outlined in this FOA. Applied R&D may be focused on, but is not limited to, areas outlined within this FOA and towards technology transitions to products that address current and future operational needs of the government and commercial sector.

Manufacturing and Technology Readiness Levels (MRL, TRL): A key objective of Manufacturing Innovation Institutes is successful ‘scale-up’ of the specific technology focus area, with a focus on progression across Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) 4 through 7. In many cases, the technology being matured represents products coming off the production line and the associated processing and fabrication techniques used during production. In the case of RIME-MII, the technologies being developed and the systems being “scaled-up” represent robots operating within a production environment, and not the products themselves coming out of the factory. As such, the scale-up from MRL 4 through 7 involves the progression of demonstration of robot capabilities (including all associated sensing, controls, learning, mobility and manipulation) in a laboratory environment to integration and demonstration of robot capabilities in a production representative environment. The definition of production representative [footnoteRef:1] is “An environment that has as much production realism as possible. Production personnel, equipment, processes, and materials that will be present on the pilot line should be used whenever possible. The work instructions and tooling should be of high quality… and there should be no reliance on a laboratory environment or personnel.” The following table describes TRL and MRL levels: [1: DOD Manufacturing Readiness Level Desk book, V2.4 August 2015, Page 15; www.dodmrl.com ]

Robotics: A branch of engineering and computer science that deals with design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback and information processing. This FOA specifically addresses the subset of robotics in manufacturing environments, or technologies dealing with autonomous and semi-autonomous machines (robots for short) that can work in constrained or dangerous environments or in support of manufacturing processes.

Artificial Intelligence: The ability of a non-living system to act appropriately in an uncertain environment using sophisticated mechanisms such as learning, reasoning, etc. The term "artificial intelligence" is typically applied when a machine mimics human "cognitive" functions such as "learning" and "problem solving[footnoteRef:2]. The central problems (or goals) of AI research include reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, natural language processing (communication), and perception. [footnoteRef:3] [2: Russell and Norvig 2009] [3: Russell & Norvig 2003 Luger & Stubblefield 2004 Poole, Mackworth & Goebel 1998 Nilsson 1998

Collaborative Robotics in Manufacturing: A system or systems comprised of robots, software agents, smart sensors and related elements, working together with humans or with each other to comprehend, reason, plan, learn and ultimately support or execute manufacturing tasks. The collaborative interaction is defined as each element having individual goals/tasks and executing in a manner to support the goals/tasks of other elements in the system in a safe, secure and optimal way. This is an important area of robotics as it addresses how robots, including collections of robots, can collaborate with humans and with each other to achieve manufacturing tasks.

Autonomous Robots: The ability of an artificial intelligent robot system to independently compose and select among different courses of action to accomplish goals based on its knowledge and understanding of the world, itself, and the situation. An autonomous robot may also learn or gain new knowledge like adjusting for new methods of accomplishing its tasks or adapting to changing surroundings. Some modern factory robots are "autonomous" within the strict confines of their direct environment. The factory robot's workplace is challenging and can often contain chaotic, unpredictable variables, and as such, some degrees of freedom, or the amount of autonomy granted, may be limited.

Machine Perception: The capability of a machine or computer system to interpret data in a manner that is similar to the way humans use their senses to relate to the world around [footnoteRef:4] them. Until recently input was limited to computers, but advances in technology, both in hardware and software, have allowed machine, including robots to take in sensory input in a way similar to humans. [4: Malcolm Tatum (October 3, 2012). "What is Machine Perception".]

MII Infrastructure: The physical and organizational structure required to support a sustainable manufacturing innovation institute (MII). This includes a physical headquarters and shared user facilities that form a core function and capability within the MII, enabling demonstration, rapid prototyping, and scale-up opportunities for MII members and users. While centralized facilities are most desirable, it is understood that networked, distributed facilities provide value and may be necessary/appropriate based on consortium members’ and other users’ locations and existing infrastructure. The Government envisions that the RIME-MII shall serve as a technical resource for industry, academic/educational institutions and regulators in the design, development and prototype manufacturing.

Intellectual Property: Intellectual Property is defined as technical know-how, inventions, technical data, discoveries, materials, samples, software, software programs, documentation, reports, any and all other copyrightable materials, and/or invention or discovery that is or may be patentable or otherwise protectable under Title 35 of the U.S. Code. Additional information on Intellectual Property; “Guidance eon Intellectual Property Rights for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation,” is provided as Appendix C.

MII Governance: The critical function of providing strategic and operational leadership, both within the lead non-profit organization and across the MII itself, comprised of all member organizations and member affiliates. It includes; setting direction, making policy and strategy decisions, overseeing and monitoring organizational performance, and ensuring overall accountability. The government will actively participate in the public private partnership that is the RIME-MII. Sample governance considerations are enclosed (Appendix E)

Non-Profit Organization: Any corporation, trust, association, cooperative or other organization that: (1) Is operated primarily for scientific, educational, service, or similar purposes in the public interest; (2) Is not organized primarily for profit; and (3) Uses its net proceeds to maintain, improve, or expand the operations of the organization. The term could include any nonprofit institution of higher education.

Cost Share: The makeup, extent, and quality of commitments, of the cost share plan proposed over the life of the award are important. A sample spreadsheet is enclosed for initial cost share demonstration and planning (Appendix D). Applicants shall submit a completed spreadsheet with their proposal. This spreadsheets does not count against the page count.

Rapid Prototyping: An alternate manufacturing process development path with a short turn-around time to test time-critical designs. A common component of MIIs is their ability to serve as an affordable, accessible, and rapid prototyping platform(s) in their respective technology space(s) for small-medium size enterprises, entrepreneurs, and academia.

Project Overview

The Robots In Manufacturing Environments Manufacturing Innovation Institute (RIME-MII) is envisioned to create an end-to-end innovation ‘ecosystem’ in the U.S. for the implementation of advanced and agile robotic technologies for manufacturing applications. This may include collaborative robotics, machine intelligence and learning, dexterous manipulation, autonomous platform mobility, machine perception, and test/verification/validation. The RIME-MII will be structured to allow government, industry and academic/educational institutions to come together with the goal of organizing the currently fragmented U.S. capabilities in domestic robotics technologies and better position the U.S. relative to global competition. The RIME-MII will also enable academic/educational institutions and small-to-medium enterprises to participate in and benefit from the collaborative manufacturing advances that will occur within the institute. The RIME-MII must be structured to address both government and commercial manufacturing application needs, with a focus on maturing technologies from Manufacturing Readiness Level 4 (technology produced in a laboratory environment) through 7 (technology produced in a production representative environment).

The current risk to industry (alone) to develop, implement and scale advanced robotic technologies is considered high, and access to future robotic technologies is limited. Competition on many fronts makes it difficult for individual companies to capitalize or develop these technologies for a global marketplace. The goal of the RIME-MII is to address these risks by establishing a national advanced manufacturing innovation institute as a resource to focus on the complex issues in robotics manufacturing. This includes developing solutions that create cost-effective manufacturing capabilities to minimize the risk to the U.S. industrial base in adopting these new technologies. To accomplish these things, the MII would provide access to small-and medium-sized enterprises, large industry, institutions of higher education, and the government. This will also require a sustained collaborative approach between industry, institutions of higher education, government, and the workforce. The ability to reduce the time and cost to bring products to the marketplace is a common need shared by both government and industry.

Because the global marketplace is driven by the speed at which products can enter the marketplace at a competitive price point, the RIME-MII’s focus must be on developing technologies or services that have quick turn, far reaching impact across the broader industrial robotics ecosystem. Government and industry also need to develop ways to reduce the risk of adopting new robotic technologies. The RIME-MII is envisioned to reduce risk in advanced robotic technologies through advances in technology integration, prototyping, testing, and support to regulatory standards as required. The RIME-MII must also create training and education development opportunities to keep the workforce current with the state of technology advancements in robotics for manufacturing.

This RIME-MII will need to bring together federal government, academic/educational institutions, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), component and subsystem suppliers, synergistic technology contributors, service providers, and state and local governments to achieve the vision of the RIME-MII. Essentially, the RIME-MII nonprofit leader will assemble broad multi-disciplinary sub-recipients that are currently fragmented into a cohesive unit that provides prototyping and process advancements across multiple technology thrust areas. This partnership between the award recipient and sub-recipients must foster agile and robust pre-competitive robotic technologies and knowledge advances that address both government and commercial needs, and enable market-focused manufacturing innovations that support product and system performance, and affordability, all of which ultimately drives and meets increased market demand. When fully integrated, these platforms, collaborations, innovations, and supporting infrastructure will create and sustain an advanced manufacturing ecosystem ripe for enabling technology transition and commercial manufacturing of advanced robotics and associated technologies.

The RIME-MII ecosystem must also be designed and established in a way that beneficially responds to the political, regulatory, legal, and social systems and structures that could depend on or influence the Institute. This includes being sensitive to the evolving needs and perceptions of customers, and regulators; understanding changes occurring in technologies; remaining informed and responding to barriers to domestic competitiveness.

The RIME-MII operational ecosystem should be structured in a way that promotes the collaborative MRL 4-7 problem-solving vision of the NNMI network. Figure 1 represents an operational concept of key elements in the innovation ecosystem. These elements should be considered in developing the business, technical, educational and workforce, and cost plans that will be evaluated according to the Evaluation Criteria specified.

Figure 1: RIME-MII Operational Concept

Within the Business Plan the Applicant should consider the elements in Figure 1 that describe the conceptual RIME-MII ecosystem. These elements are further described below:

Leadership and Culture: Applicants are expected to design a RIME-MII organizational strategy with a leadership structure and culture that brings together cross-functional expertise for maximum impact. This will include inculcating the vision of the RIME-MII to advance manufacturing readiness levels within the technology ecosystem and support product assurance. The overall non-profit governance and RIME-MII leadership council-type body must be designed to support the RIME-MII vision and business plan. The Leadership Council-type body will provide guidance and oversight to technology advisory and other working groups. The leadership and culture shall outline the vision, strategy, operating principles, worker attitudes and habits and management practices that will become the distinctive culture, or “personality” of the RIME institute

Infrastructure and Cross-Cutter Systems: Within the business plan, applicants should clearly describe the physical and operational infrastructure that will support the institute, to address how the people and processes will interact and collaborate, and the allocation of boundaries, roles, and responsibilities to achieve the RIME-MII intended results. Examples of infrastructure need are the physical and virtual access to RIME-MII applied R&D resources, coordination of workforce training, development and educational outreach, as well as a structure for decision making, personnel policies and procedures across industry and academic partners. Cross cutter systems are the interrelated sets of tasks or activities that help organize and coordinate work within the RIME-MII. Examples include partnerships shared knowledge and communication gateways, membership recruiting, and development. Cross-cutter systems may also contain the underlying databases, software design systems, or reference standards that support a sustainable MII model. Developing and defining measures to support standards and regulations for robots in manufacturing will be an integral cross-cutting need for the RIME-MII.

Core Processes: The core processes -- i.e., the sequence of events or “battle rhythm” necessary to execute a project call and/or deliver a product or service -- dictates the flow of work through the RIME-MII. These core processes must foster multi-disciplinary collaboration be sensitive to federal funding obligation/expenditure benchmarks, and should be the focal point around which all other RIME-MII activities are organized. These core processes should also support adaptive learning to advance the state of the art in collaborative robotics and associated technologies, integrate workforce development into institute activities, and ensure sustained relevance of the RIME-MII through continual outreach and feedback loops.

Results: Every organization attempts to achieve the results that their goals, objectives and strategies are intended to produce. The results are defined by the objectives and metrics used to measure performance, therefore, define the results, metrics, and success criteria for the proposed RIME-MII. Applicants shall describe the baseline measure of performance and the measureable criteria to demonstrate progress in annual increments. The results should measureable across business, technical, and educational and workforce performance categories.

In summary, the government is interested in receiving proposals for an RIME-MII that will lead to a more innovative, responsive and competitive, domestic manufacturing industrial base across all sectors and activities of robotics in manufacturing. The goal is to bring together representation from across the RIME-MII membership community to address MRL 4-7 common manufacturing challenges that are beyond the risk of industry write large. This will be fostered by a robust and sustainable RIME-MII leadership structure to facilitate and accelerate technical and manufacturing maturity.

Technical Objectives

Essential to this effort is the technical scope of the applied research and development that will be addressed by the RIME-MII. The conceptual RIME-MII manufacturing and design innovation ecosystem includes a variety of concepts, theories, components and processes. Figure 2 illustrates this conceptual functional ecosystem within which a RIME-MII will operate and drive technological innovation. The technology ecosystem includes specific thrust areas as well as cross-cutting areas, all connected within a collaborative advanced manufacturing innovation infrastructure. The specific elements of the conceptual collaborative and cross-cutting infrastructure are shown in Figure 2, along with associated expected degrees of federal investment. Note that minimal federal investment does not necessarily mean a particular element of the innovation ecosystem is of lesser importance. Rather, it could indicate resources to address a particular area (e.g. infrastructure) may be best met with the applicant’s cost share. The federal investment is targeted toward those areas (e.g. thrust area project calls) that are often beyond the risk of industry and other member organizations. Among the RIME-MII responsibilities will be technology road mapping and gap identification, the execution of projects against RIME-MII technology thrust areas, establishment of a collaborative infrastructure, and support of cross-cutting functions to ensure a healthy, sustainable advanced manufacturing innovation domestic ecosystem in robotics for manufacturing.

Figure 2: RIME-MII Functional Ecosystem Concept

The conceptual flow illustrated in Figure 2 above describes a functional ecosystem in RIME-MII by a complete technology development, integration, and testing support structure ranging from material selection to creation of functional platforms to test devices through process automation and product assurance. Common manufacturing and testing challenges to be addressed within the RIME-MII are likely to come from ongoing federal investments in robotic technologies, and/or from emerging industrial opportunities that need focused efforts to advance enabling technologies. The inputs to the RIME-MII ecosystem include both public and private public research (TRL/MRL 1-3). The outputs of the RIME-MII could include prototypes, patents, new manufacturing processes, or equipment to sell to a subsystem or system manufacturers. This could include technology transfer of protocols, processes, or novel methods through licensing or other arrangements. This could also include publications, services for access to data repositories, collaborative robotic process characterization, or design-build-test capabilities. There are three elements to the RIME-MII; technology thrust areas, cross cutting areas, and collaborative infrastructure.

Technology Thrust Areas:

Within the RIME-MII conceptual ecosystem, the government expects applied research projects being conducted predominantly in the following six thrust areas THRUST AREA 1: Collaborative Robotics: Currently, robots deployed in manufacturing environments tend to be large and are prohibited from being in the immediate working area of their human operators. Once programmed to do their assigned task, robots are restricted to their own workspace via fencing or other physical means provided for safety purposes. To dramatically increase production throughput, “peer-like” interactions between humans and robots are necessary to minimize process variation and enhance operational efficiencies.

SUB THRUST AREA 1a: Design for Collaborative Robots. Collaborative, peer like physical interactions can be enabled through computationally based design. Optimization software, along with similar advances in materials, mechanisms, fabrication techniques, and other novel concepts can enable the design of robots that ensures safety and maintains optimum productivity in the presence of humans in manufacturing environments. This sub thrust area encourages the physical design and integration of mature elements of various enabling design technologies into implementable solutions for human-robot collaboration.

SUB THRUST AREA 1b: Human-Robot/Robot-Robot Interaction: This includes the ability to provide intuitive interfaces that are simple, understandable and contain the intent for both the human and the robot. Resultant interactive behaviors should be transparent to allow for a peer-like relationship between robot-robot and human- robot. Intuitive input and output modalities can be verbal (common natural language) or non-verbal (vision, hand gestures), but with the minimal use of physical control devices. The interaction should allow for the robot to recognize the physical and emotional limitations of humans and interact accordingly for a given set of tasks.

SUB THRUST AREA 1c: Supervisory Runtime Assurance: In order to preserve safety and performance, a means to monitor and correct the collaborative environment shall be implemented during runtime execution. Runtime assurance shall provide for real time situation awareness, security (including cybersecurity), safety policy monitoring, debugging, fault protection, and system behavior verification and validation. The resultant data may be stored in a database for future analysis.

THRUST AREA 2: Robot Control: Learning, Adaptation, and Repurposing: Existing robots utilizing classic control techniques in manufacturing environments have limited learning, adaptation and repurposing capabilities. Next generation robotics should adopt advanced control techniques to efficiently share the workspace with users and other robots, and to continuously improve flexibility and performance via experiences within the workspace. Techniques such as adaptive control, supervised and unsupervised learning, and reasoning (still a nascent technology) show potential in taking past observations and/or experiences to develop potential future control actions. In order to support this, a common and open framework needs to be developed that has the capability to incorporate modular architectures and representations. This will enhance innovation, reuse, and interoperability which can be shared amongst entities of the ecosystem.

SUB THRUST 2a: Learning and Decision Making: In comparison to existing manufacturing robots, collaborative robots with high degree of freedom are generally too complex to be programmed specifically for a set of tasks given the potential uncertainties within a manufacturing environment. Techniques such as learning by example may be employed in which the robot observes a human or other robot conducting tasks and repeats these behaviors given a set of safety and performance thresholds. In order to examine impacts on execution of a set of tasks, high-level decision making including decision making techniques (and ultimately reasoning as it matures) can be coupled with lower level control loops to develop skills which can be continuously updated in real time via new observations. Efficient real time computational techniques are critical for implementation of learning and reasoning.

SUBTHRUST 2b: Adaptation: This sub thrust addresses the need to make robots more adaptable. Advances in adaptability are encouraged at all levels towards the development of safe, effective, and highly productive robotic systems. This can enable the benefits of human-robot and robot-robot collaboration in both dedicated and flexible manufacturing operations and environments. For example, redistribution of tasks between a peer group of robots when some of them are disabled. Adaptability can include, (1) effective use and integration of open source software: (2) the ability to rapidly modify pre-validated algorithms and common software architectures and codes; (3) design attributes in the robot hardware to physically enable adaptive response to disturbances or variations in the manufacturing cycle; and, (4) effective collaborative training of both humans and robots to rapidly adjust and adapt to implementation of new software, hardware, and production protocols SUB THRUST 2c: Rapid Repurposing: Existing manufacturing robots generally represent a significant capital investment, to include hardware, software, specific training, calibration, and validation needed for effective deployment and use of these devices on the manufacturing floor. What is needed is a focus on ease of repurposing so the user doesn’t have to be a programmer. Currently, robots can be programmed for only one set of tasks at a time. The ability to rapidly, affordably, and safely repurpose robot platforms should include: (1) enablers for modifying or substituting physical elements of the robot to permit a new set of human-robot collaborative tasks; (2) software tools to rapidly and economically reconfigure robots for a new task and minimize idle time of manufacturing assets; and, (3) effective human-robot safety training and protocols unique to rapid repurposing. The rapid repurposing of robots will improve robot manufacturing lot size, lowering the capital cost for manufacturers and will improve their ROI in operations.

THRUST AREA 3: Dexterous Manipulation: Existing robotic systems have low degrees of freedom, grasping ability limited by size, shape, and fragility of objects to be manipulated, and limited situation awareness. As the robotic workload increases within the factory, advanced manipulation will need to keep pace to enable effective robotic deployment. Next generation end effectors (also known as “end of arm tooling”) should keep pace with challenges in manipulation of material systems (i.e. lubricated items, precision assembly). The identification, integration, and demonstration of advanced end effectors could include: (1) use of virtual simulation methodologies to optimally inform the design of end effectors in the context of the task(s) to be performed; (2) the selection and implementation of the most appropriate methods for enabling dexterous and physical manipulation of objects (e.g. materials, mechanisms, use of energetic fields, or novel combinations thereof); and, (3) the appropriate use of sensing to inform adaptive and dexterous manipulation.

THRUST AREA 4: Autonomous Navigation & Mobility: Existing robotic systems in manufacturing are either stationary or confined in their movements to limited, predetermined areas. Despite existing technology that currently enables autonomous navigation in structured and unstructured environments, work is needed to make robotic autonomy more robust and rapid. The goal of this thrust is to advance the state of the art in mobility to access challenging environments. This implies a variety of movements such as crawling, climbing, accessing tight spaces. Similar to human navigation in the manufacturing environments, robots should be quick in their response to path planning and agile to dynamic obstacles in their intended path.

SUB THRUST AREA 4a: Navigation, Dynamic Path Planning, Obstacle Detection and Obstacle Avoidance (ODOA) The ability to navigate in a dynamic manufacturing environment implies that the robot is aware of its size and configuration as well as the obstacles it must navigate through. Future autonomous navigation capabilities will require a balance between robustness (e.g. safety) and optimality (e.g. speed). Perception and sensing technologies are critical enablers for this capability.

SUB THRUST AREA 4b: Mobility Enablers. The mobility of robots is limited by factors such as system power requirements, battery capacity and size, and insufficient signal/communications. The proposers should address these issues as well as security of communications and impact of variability of a facility’s infrastructure with respect to its effect on mobility, as appropriate. The desired future state is a robotic environment not constrained by power and communication limitations.

THRUST AREA 5: Perception and Sensing: Within a collaborative manufacturing environment, sensing and perception systems need to move beyond existing point measurements to a field representation (e.g. data fusion) to allow for intelligent situational awareness leading to successful task execution. The institute will not develop sensors but will integrate them. The integration of such perception and sensing systems require a thorough understanding of hardware and software implementations to properly embed solutions into robot operations and manufacturing processes. A configurable suite of sensors will provide a myriad of outputs that will need to be processed efficiently and effectively. Interoperability and compatibility of sensors along with data reduction techniques, and advanced analytics will be needed to present a holistic interpretation for situational awareness.

THRUST AREA 6: Testing, Verification, Validation (TV&V): Evidence-based methods and tools are required to verify and validate RIME prototypes and R&D projects for safety, security, and performance. New methods for software verification are necessary due to the non-deterministic nature of the collaborative human-robotic interactions in a potentially congested manufacturing environment. Particular attention needs to be focused on the unique challenges posed on systems that learn. For example, where emergent behaviors on input stimuli change over time, even after the system has been deployed in a manufacturing application. The RIME MII should address the development of relevant metrics associated with TV&V. The general intent of this thrust area is to establish a plan that provides high confidence that a robotic system will perform its assigned tasks as intended within the constraints of safety, security, and performance. Applicants should provide a TV&V plan.

SUB THRUST AREA 6a: Collaborative Environment Modeling and Simulation Tools: The manufacturing robot industry is challenged by very limited mature modeling and simulation tools which are needed to facilitate the predictive end-to-end design of a collaborative environment involving both humans and robots. It is recognized that mature general modeling and simulation tools do exist. A particular challenge is the ability to model, conduct analysis, and verify design, safety and performance for robots and associated technologies, along with the capability to conduct relevant experiments with the models in the collaborative environment. This environment should be supported by a robust knowledge management system that provides validated performance data for a collaborative robotics environment. The future state, enabled by the RIME-MII, will be new innovative modeling and simulation tools that can address these issues.

SUB THRUST AREA 6b: Robotics Software Testbed: There is a need to develop accessible, collaborative robotic software testbeds to test subsystems for robust behaviors before incorporating into the final robotic system. A shared-access test bed capability should be available to test and validate the embedded and other software in prototypes prior to integration into various operational manufacturing systems. It is desired to have automated software testing tools and capabilities to verify that the product code is free from errors early and throughout the development and integration cycle. This test bed is essential to providing cost effective means to conduct software TV&V, particular for small and medium industry and academia.

Cross Cutting Thrust Areas

7. Modeling and Simulation Tools The Government expects RIME-MII to leverage mature modeling and simulation tools developed by the robotic industry and academia in order to robustly support each of the technology thrust areas. The vision for the Institute is to support a full range of design and modeling tools that facilitate product and process design and development, cost analysis, and trade-off studies. It is desired that these existing tools be available to members of the RIME-MII ecosystem.

8. Education and Workforce Development The RIME-MII has a separate and unique responsibility to support and encourage the integration of the educational programs, internships, and professional training and retraining that will advance the technical workforce for robots in manufacturing and testing technologies. The RIME-MII’s STEM outreach strategy should include curriculum for all levels of education beginning grades K-12 and including community colleges, universities, trade schools, and “for profit” institutions. An integral part of RIME-MII education and training thrust is creating a structure around product assurance techniques and measures to support standards and regulations, especially in areas of safety, security, and performance.

Creating an educated, skilled, and multi-disciplinary manufacturing robotic workforce that is capable of sustaining the commercial and DoD industrial base at all technical and supply-chain levels, from technician through researcher, is critical for the success of the RIME-MII and is a key human capital resource for member companies. Success will require the development of a strong technical interface to the academic advanced robotic research community and testing-relevant curricula for, and in partnership with, educational institutions, including universities and community colleges. Efforts should also be made to provide students with the critical manufacturing and entrepreneurial skills that will prepare them for a successful transition to the workforce and success in the development and commercialization of robot-related products. Many of these activities can leverage existing research and educational programs, including the research and educational programs of the National Science Foundation and multi-agency National Robotics Initiative

Collaborative Infrastructure

1. Technology and Data Repository: Currently, industry -- especially small and medium size enterprises -- does not have access to a repository where they can be updated with the latest robotics technology developments. The RIME MII should include this repository, to enable awareness and catalog new relevant technologies and processes in a shared knowledge management system. The repository should also document processes where the supply chain is currently unavailable. An example of a component of the data repository would be the catalog of newly developed sensor products which can be integrated into the collaborative manufacturing environment. The Intellectual Property (IP) provisions of the institute will need to protect proprietary data while extending the non-proprietary knowledge base to members. The government envisions a Test, Validation and Verification data repository as a subset of this overall data repository. This TV&V data repository should support relevant tool developments, inform regulatory policy and standards development. The RIME-MII infrastructure should allow for a means for data management and potential methods for data protection.

2. Application Gateway: Currently, industry does not have access to a technology “matchmaker” to improve their odds of success when looking for partners in new robotics developing areas. The Application Gateway should be a “go-to” resource and an “honest broker” to such parties. The Institute should establish dynamic gateway in order to ensure RIME-MII is progressing toward a unified vision of delivering un-paralleled robotics technologies into the manufacturing domain. This will facilitate communication, awareness, cooperation, and collaboration among members and across the broader ecosystem. The government envisions the RIME-MII application gateway to use its detailed knowledge of the manufacturing ecosystem to help provide partnership opportunities for OEMs to develop and mature supply chains based upon product needs. Additionally, the Application Gateway should afford the opportunity for small businesses to collaborate with other small businesses, and sub-system suppliers to partner with OEMs.

Appendix B: Representation and Certifications

The Sample Representations and Certifications are as required from the Overview Information in the FOA.

Appendix C: Guidance on Intellectual Property Rights for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

Appendix D: Cost Share

Appendix E: MII Governance Considerations

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APPENDIX I

FOA-RQKM-2015-0009

Certifications for Assistance Instruments

1. Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters--Primary Covered Transactions

(a) The prospective primary participant certifies to the best of its knowledge and belief, that it and its principals:

(1) Are not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment, declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded by any Federal department or agency;

(2) Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal been convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against them for commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal, State or local) transaction or contract under a public transaction; violation of Federal or State antitrust statutes or commission of embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property;

(3) Are not presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly charged by a governmental entity (Federal, State or local) with commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (a)(2) of this certification; and

(4) Have not within a three-year period preceding this application/proposal had one or more public transactions (Federal, State or local) terminated for cause or default.

(b) Where the prospective primary participant is unable to certify to any of the statements in this certification, such prospective participant shall attach an explanation to this proposal.

2. Certification Regarding Drug-Free Workplace Requirements

Alternate I. (Applicants Other Than Individuals)

(a) The applicant certifies that it will or will continue to provide a drug-free workplace by:

(1) Publishing a statement notifying employees that the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession, or use of a controlled substance is prohibited in the applicant’s workplace and specifying the actions that will be taken against employees for violation of such prohibition;

(2) Establishing an ongoing drug-free awareness program to inform employees about—

(i) The dangers of drug abuse in the workplace;

(ii) The applicant’s policy of maintaining a drug-free workplace;

(iii) Any available drug counseling, rehabilitation, and employee assistance programs; and

(iv) The penalties that may be imposed upon employees for drug abuse violations occurring in the workplace;

(3) Making it a requirement that each employee to be engaged in the performance of the assistance instrument be given a copy of the statement required by paragraph (a)(1);

(4) Notifying the employee in the statement required by paragraph (a)(1) that, as a condition of employment under the assistance instrument, the employee will—

(i) Abide by the terms of the statement; and

(ii) Notify the employer in writing of his or her conviction for a violation of a criminal drug statute occurring in the workplace no later than five calendar days after such conviction;

(5) Notifying the agency in writing, within ten calendar days after receiving notice under paragraph (a)(4)(ii) from an employee or otherwise receiving actual notice of such conviction. Employers of convicted employees must provide notice, including position title, to every grants officer or other designee on whose grant activity the convicted employee was working, unless the Federal agency has designated a central point for the receipt of such notices. Notice shall include the identification number(s) of each affected assistance instrument;

(6) Taking one of the following actions, within 30 calendar days of receiving notice under paragraph (a)(4)(ii), with respect to any employee who is so convicted—

(i) Taking appropriate personnel action against such an employee, up to and including termination, consistent with the requirements of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; or

(ii) Requiring such employee to participate satisfactorily in a drug abuse assistance or rehabilitation program approved for such purposes by a Federal, State, or local health, law enforcement, or other appropriate agency;

(7) Making a good faith effort to continue to maintain a drug-free workplace through implementation of paragraphs (a)(1), (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6).

(b) The applicant may insert in the space provided below the site(s) for the performance of work done in connection with the specific assistance instrument:

Place of Performance (Street address, city, county, State, zip code)

Check □ if there are workplaces on file that are not identified here.

Alternate II. (Applicants Who Are Individuals)

(a) The applicant certifies that as a condition of the assistance instrument, he or she will not engage in the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession, or use of a controlled substance in conducting any activity with the assistance instrument;

(b) If convicted of a criminal drug offense resulting from a violation occurring during the conduct of any activity under this assistance instrument, he or she will report the conviction in writing, within 10 calendar days of the conviction, to every assistance instrument office or other designee, unless the Federal agency designates a central point for the receipt of such notices. When notice is made to such a central point, it shall include the identification number(s) of each affected assistance instrument.

3. Certification for Contracts, Grants, Loans, and Cooperative Agreements Regarding Lobbying

(a) The undersigned certifies, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, that:

(1) No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of an agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any Federal contract, the making of any Federal grant, the making of any Federal loan, the entering into of any cooperative agreement, and the extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.

(2) If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid to any person for influencing or attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in connection with this Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement, the undersigned shall complete and submit Standard Form-LLL, ``Disclosure Form to Report Lobbying,'' in accordance with its instructions.

(3) The undersigned shall require that the language of this certification be included in the award documents for all subawards at all tiers (including subcontracts, subgrants, and contracts under grants, loans, and cooperative agreements) and that all subrecipients shall certify and disclose accordingly.

(b) This certification is a material representation of fact upon which reliance was placed when this transaction was made or entered into. Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making or entering into this transaction imposed by section 1352, title 31, U.S. Code. Any person who fails to file the required certification shall be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $10,000 and not more than $100,000 for each such failure.

4. Representation By Corporations Regarding An Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability Or A Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law-Fiscal Year 2014 Appropriations (Deviation) (Feb 2014)

(a) In accordance with sections 8113 and 8114 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2014, and sections 414 and 415 of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 (Public Law 113-76, Divisions C and J), none of the funds made available by those divisions (including Military Constructions funds) may be used to enter into an agreement with any corporation that-

(1) Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government; or

(2) Was convicted of a felony criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months, where the awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government.

(b) The Offeror represents that –

(1) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability,

(2) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

5. Representation By Corporations Regarding An Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability Or A Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law--Fiscal Year 2014 Appropriations (Deviation) (Oct 2013)

(a) In accordance with section 101(a) of Division A of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 (Pub. L. 113-46), none of the funds made available by that Act for DoD (including Military Construction funds) may be used to enter into an agreement with any corporation that--

(1) Has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability, where the awarding agency is aware of the unpaid tax liability, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this further action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government; or

(2) Was convicted of a felony criminal violation under any Federal law within the preceding 24 months, where the awarding agency is aware of the conviction, unless the agency has considered suspension or debarment of the corporation and made a determination that this action is not necessary to protect the interests of the Government.

(b) The Offeror represents that--

(1) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that has any unpaid Federal tax liability that has been assessed, for which all judicial and administrative remedies have been exhausted or have lapsed, and that is not being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement with the authority responsible for collecting the tax liability,

(2) It is [ ] is not [ ] a corporation that was convicted of a felony criminal violation under a Federal law within the preceding 24 months.

6. Representation By Corporations Regarding An Unpaid Delinquent Tax Liability Or A Felony Conviction Under Any Federal Law--Fiscal Year 2013 Appropriations (Deviation) (Apr 2013)

(a) In accordance with sections 8112 and 8113 of Division C and sections 514 and 515 of Division E of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act,…