Robotic perception capabilities are improving with recent advances in AI. | Credit: ARM Institute
The ARM Institute last week issued its latest call for projects to support American manufacturing and the U.S. Department of Defense. The institute said it plans to award about $3 million to fund multiple projects under the 25-01 Project Call
The ARM Institute has four stated goals. They include empowering U.S. workers to compete with lower-wage workers abroad; creating new jobs for national prosperity and security; lowering the technical, operational, and economic barriers to adopting robotics; and asserting U.S. leadership in advanced robotics for manufacturing.
The Pittsburgh-based institute said it aids in job creation by:
- Increasing productivity through collaborative robotics and helping create new jobs to build, manage, and maintain robots.
- Promoting the expansion of domestic manufacturers.
- Replacing dangerous jobs with safer jobs, thereby creating a safer working environment and potentially more job opportunities in the manufacturing sector.
In January of 2024, the ARM Institute announced the continuation of its cooperative agreement with the Defense Department’s Manufacturing Technology Program. This program brought in $35.4 million to continue the organization’s funding to support U.S. manufacturing through automation and workforce development through 2028.
Last August, the ARM Institute selected six technology projects to get funding. The organization planned to award around $2.9 million in project funding, for a total contribution of approximately $6.1 million across these six projects.
ARM Institute plans to award $3M
With its latest project call, No. T-25-C20-01, the ARM Institute specified eligibility criteria, the submission processes, and deadlines for submitting proposals for funding opportunities in advanced robotics for manufacturing.
STA1: Multi-modal inputs for AI robotics in manufacturing
Recent advances in artificial intelligence are giving robots improved perception capabilities, noted the ARM Institute. While deep learning methods in robotics have relied on RGB image data, there is no reason to restrict their use only to vision data, it noted.
Multimodal sensing involves the use of different systems that capture diverse data such as visual, auditory, tactile, and proprioceptive to help robots perceive and interpret their surroundings. Implementing multimodal sensing in robotics can significantly enhance their ability to make decisions and control various tasks, the institute said.
In factory applications, where a vast range of sensor data such as force, pressure, temperature, hyperspectral imaging, and acoustic are used, multimodal sensing can prove especially beneficial, it added. Manufacturing automation applications are increasingly recognizing the importance of multimodal sensing in improving the precision, efficiency, and safety of different processes.
STA2: Rapid re-tasking and robot agility
Advances in automation have increased manufacturing productivity over the past decade, asserted the ARM Institute. Sustaining this growth will require automation to become more agile and flexible, enabling the automation of tasks that require a high degree of human dexterity and the ability to react to unforeseen circumstances.
The traditional program-by-teaching model for robotics takes considerable time, requires extensive expertise, and does not lend itself to tasks that require adaptability, added the ARM Institute. This has limited robots to high-volume, repetitive operations and precluded them from low-volume, time-critical, and flexible projects.
Offline programming of robots is possible with methods such as computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) widely used for machine tools. However, the poor accuracy of robots compared with machine tools limits them to jobs with low tolerance requirements or requires additional methods such as calibration, modeling, and external sensing.
These methods for increasing accuracy typically increase the upfront cost of a robotic system, said the ARM Institute. “However, advances and cost reductions in sensing technologies (especially laser scanning) have brought robot systems into the price range of even small-to-medium enterprises,” it said.
STA3: Multi-robot, multi-human collaboration
Future manufacturing environments will have multiple robots and humans working in close proximity and collaborating on specific tasks, according to the ARM Institute. Robots are currently unable to reliably detect human presence in environments with high uncertainty and contextually understand human activity.
Similarly, no systems currently exist for dynamic, distributed sensing for safety. ARM said it has identified the development of real-time coordination between multiple robots and multiple humans to perform advanced manufacturing processes as a key area of interest.
STA4: Adaptive real-time path planning and control
Adaptive real-time path planning and control is increasingly essential in manufacturing environments, particularly as industries adopt advanced automation, the ARM Institute said. This technology is intended to optimize the movement of machines, robots, and material handling systems, enhancing efficiency, productivity, and safety on the factory floor.
“A successful solution conveys a technical approach or methodology that enables advanced manufacturing robotic systems to adjust a path or trajectory to variations that may occur in the system or process,” the institute said.
Timeline for submissions to ARM Institute
To learn more or submit a proposal for the project call, go to the ARM Institute website or sign up for its project call webinar on March 13. The submission deadline for concept papers is April 9.
The institute will then send invitations for the presentation phase around May 2, with submissions for presentations and supporting documentation due June 5. After that, team presentations will begin by invitation only around June 10.
The ARM Institute said it expects to release final selections and begin sub-award negotiations around June 11. The sub-award execution deadline is July 15, as target project start date. The project period of performance end date is July 14, 2026.
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