Author: Merryn Ballantyne

Centre Director, Prof Jonathan Roberts and InfraBuild’s Industry 4.0 Lead, Andrew Thomas were recently interviewed by Industry Update about the Shorts Project.

InfraBuild’s problem was that off-the-shelf solutions to automate the detection and removal of ‘shorts’ couldn’t deal with the variety of bars produced by the steel manufacturer.

ACC’s team of engineers and researchers from Queensland University of Technology and University of Technology, Sydney, worked with InfraBuild’s team at the steel mill to design and test a handful of possible solutions over six months.

This involved building a life-sized, working version of InfraBuild’s conveyor system and using an industrial robot to pick up and move steel bars.  InfraBuild wanted the solution to fit into existing operations rather than requiring extensive changes to plant, equipment or processes. A cobot meant a straight-forward implementation and the option to switch back to manual if, for some reason, the cobot failed.

Read the article: https://www.industryupdate.com.au/article/%E2%80%98shorts%E2%80%99-project-steel-manufacturer-collaborates-cobot-design

Industry Update was established in 1995 by its publisher, Scott Filby, with the sole aim of producing Australia’s most comprehensive, response driven manufacturing publication.

Now, more than 21 years on, Industry Update is market leader and continues to focus on understanding the needs of the manufacturing industry and delivering results for advertisers and readers.

 

Some of our Centre’s researchers presented at the Centre for Biomedical Technologies 2022 Conference.

The presentations focused on the Centre’s Translation Projects. These projects are separate to the #PhD projects and aim to provide solutions that incorporate new or existing research for our industry partners at various stages across the Centre’s life.

Centre Director Jonathan Roberts spoke about the Shorts project which we are working on with our industry partner, InfraBuild. The project has just completed the first phase. More here: https://lnkd.in/gchy5wyg

Research Program Lead, Markus Rittenbruch spoke about the project the team (Stine Johansen, Jared Donovan, Anjali Tumkur Jaiprakash, Marc Carmichael) are working on with Cook Medical APAC. The project involves an exploration of the use of #cobots in the stent manufacture process. Read more about the project here: https://lnkd.in/guJyZwex

The Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC) is coming to a close at the end of the year and to celebrate, they held a project showcase to highlight the successful outcomes of over 40 collaborative manufacturing R&D projects they have funded over the years.

Our researchers, Mats Isaksson and Jared Donovan were in attendance to celebrate the IMCRC’s achievements and showcase the outcomes of the projects they led through the IMCRC.

? Jared Donovan from QUT (Queensland University of Technology) led the “Design Robotics for mass custom

isation manufacturing” project which was a collaboration between UAP | Urban Art Projects, QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and RMIT University. The project used innovative robotic vision systems and software user-interfaces to reduce the integration time between design and custom manufacturing. The team integrated the systems with industrial robots and improved the manufacture of high-value, complex products in time and cost.

The project also won the CRC Association’s 2020 Award for Excellence and led to the formation of our industry partner, ARM Hub (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing).
Other Australian Cobotics Centre researchers involved in the project included: Glenda Caldwell, Jonathan Roberts, Cori Stewart and many more!

? Mats Isaksson from Swinburne University of Technology led the Tradiebot project which was an industry collaboration with Tradiebot , supported by AMA Group. The project used 3D printing technologies in conjunction with novel polymer material solutions to enable a low cost rapid repair service for automotive plastic trim and assembly components.

In plastic repairs for automotive collision repair services, the ability to rapidly manufacture an integrated replacement part directly on the damaged component will reduce repair cost, time, waste and environmental impact.

Read more about the projects:
? Design Robotics: https://lnkd.in/ghzGcu6D
? Tradiebot: https://lnkd.in/gavUsx5m

Congratulations to QUT’s Design Robotics team for winning The Australian Financial Review‘s Higher Education Award in the Industry Engagement category.

The IMCRC project, led by Australian Cobotics Centre program co-lead, Jared Donovan and included Glenda Caldwell, Cori Stewart, Jonathan Roberts and more.

The project was a collaboration between UAP | Urban Art Projects,  QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and RMIT University. With the support of IMCRC, UAP invested in robotic vision systems and developed smart user-interfaces that enabled them to manufacture bespoke artwork and architecture pieces here in Australia.

Read more about the research collaboration here: https://lnkd.in/gaDp_Ys2

Read the article here: 20221104 – AFR – Design Robotics Award article

Welcome to our newest PhD researcher from UTS Robotics Institute, Nadimul Haque.

Nadimul is supervised by Teresa Vidal Calleja and leads a research project based in the Biomimic Cobots program with industry partner, InfraBuild.

His PhD project will work towards enabling human-robot interaction with mobile collaborative robots equipped with multiple on-board sensors. The project will address together the multi-sensory robotic perception, navigation and situational awareness problems of the mobile base, and will develop a framework to achieve collaborative tasks with the operators and the cobot actions while moving.

Read more: https://lnkd.in/gnGtqbN3

Congratulations to our Research Program co-Lead, Teresa Vidal Calleja who has been named as one of 2022’s Women in Robotics You Need to Know About.

Teresa leads the Biomimic Cobots program in the Centre with Mats Isaksson. The goal of the program is to allow collaborative robots to mimic humans in acquiring perception and awareness, learning, adaptation, and manipulation skills.

The 2022 list, produced by Women in Robotics, covers the globe, with the chosen ones having nationalities from the EU, UK, USA, Australia, China, Turkey, India and Kenya. A number of women come from influential companies that are household names such as NASA, ABB, GE, Toyota and the Wall Street Journal.

As the number of women on the list grows so does the combined global impact of their efforts, increasing the visibility of women in the field who may otherwise go unrecognised. This list is published to overcome the unconscious perception that women aren’t making significant contributions.

Check out the full list here: https://lnkd.in/gKwWGUZd

The ACC has welcomed a new PhD Researcher, Jacqueline Greentree.

Jacqueline is based at QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and is part of the Centre’s Human-Robot Workforce program (led by Penny Williams and greg hearn).

Jacqueline is supervised by Paula McDonald and her research is focused on how collaborative robotics are reshaping the skills required of the Advanced Manufacturing workforce.

The findings will provide new insights on the extent of collaborative robotic adoption in Advanced Manufacturing in Australia, facilitate the identification of skill requirements for the future, and will explain the real and perceived impacts of technological change on the worker.

Read more about the program and its research projects here: Human-Robot Workforce

Welcome Jacqueline!

Last week some of our team from UTS Tech Lab (Teresa Vidal Calleja, Marc Carmichael and Matthias Guertler) attended the Modern Manufacturing Expo at the Sydney showgrounds.

They spoke to many people during the expo and Marc was even interviewed by Brett Balinski from @AuManufacturing news and media.

Check out the interview and podcast below: here: https://lnkd.in/dpXRkqpp

Matthias Guertler was interviewed by Christine Powis from Industry Update magazine.

Dr Penny Williams has been awarded an ARC DECRA grant for her project ‘Automated People Management: When algorithms manage employees’.

The $458,798 project aims to explain the impact of technologies that automate people management. The three-year project is expected to commence in early 2023. We congratulate Penny on this tremendous recognition.

 

Read more: DECRA grant success – Dr Penny Williams – Centre for Decent Work & Industry (qut.edu.au)

Associate Investigator, Dr Muge Belek Fialho Teixeira was highly commended in the Digital Mover and Shaker Award category at the recent 2022 Women in Technology awards held in Brisbane on 16th September.

As a design lead in ARM Hub, her research projects include mass customised, advanced manufactured, and technology embedded aged care furniture; customized and 3d printed assistive technologies for people with spinal cord injuries; sustainable fenders for marine environments; and AR/VR adoption in Architecture Engineering and Construction(AEC) industries.

Some of the Australian Cobotics Centre and ARM Hub team went along to support Muge and celebrate the achievements of all the women who were nominated.

The annual WiT Awards celebrate excellence and recognise the valuable contribution of women and champions of change from across Queensland’s STEM community.

Check out the full list of winners here: 2022 Award Winners – Women in Technology (wit.org.au)