Stevens Institute of Technology
The NSF-funded project leverages artificial intelligence to expand the capabilities of manufacturers by developing cost-effective infrastructure for operating manual manufacturing equipment remotely.
When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, office workers the world over turned into remote workers almost overnight.
With a computer, keyboard and mouse as their primary occupational tools, such employees kept businesses functioning by transforming personal living spaces into remote satellite offices. Needing only an internet connection and the appropriate software, much of such work can be performed on just about any computer from just about anywhere.
But for manufacturing industry workers whose jobs require direct, physical access to equipment located in specific locations, remote working is not currently an option. Unable to accommodate workers on location safely under pandemic conditions, factories around the world shut down production for months, resulting in furloughs and layoffs, worldwide supply chain disruptions, and economic ramifications that are still being felt globally two years later.
Because manual manufacturing jobs are so technology- and location-specific, the average person cannot simply network into operating an industrial drill press or screwdriver from their living room couch.
Or can they?
Stevens Institute of Technology mechanical engineering assistant professor and principal investigator for the Advanced Robot Manipulators Lab Long Wang has been awarded a $199,995 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to extend the capabilities of the industrial workforce to do just that.. . . .
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