May 2025 Volume 7

AUTOMATION

DRIVING ROBOTICS INNOVATIONS IN CASTING AND FORGING FOR DEFENSE THROUGH COLLABORATION By Cara Cranston

C asting and forging manufacturing processes are cornerstones for many industries. Specifically in Defense, casting and forging are required to produce various critical components, including ship propeller shafts, ammunition nose cones, and engine turbine blades. The Department of Defense is a High-Mix, Low Volume (HMLV) customer that must use suppliers that typically operate in Low-Mix, High Volume production (LMHV). This results in long lead times and excessive costs for critical defense systems. State-of-the-art and commercially available robotics/automation solutions work for LMHV but must be more adaptive to meet Department of Defense needs. Further, for all but the largest forgings, capacity is not the issue; the issue is utilizing our capacity effectively. In short, the casting and forging industries are key pillars for the Defense Industrial Base. These processes are ripe for robotic solutions, but collaborative action across industry, government, and academia is critical to move the needle and improve overall output and productivity. The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute has been working on solving problems like these since its inception in 2017 as a Manufacturing Innovation Institute, part of the Manufacturing USA network. The ARM Institute leverages a national consortium of more than 450 member organizations that span industry, government, and academia to lead the way to a future where people and robots work together to respond to our nation’s greatest challenges and to develop and produce the world’s most desired products. The ARM Institute accomplishes its mission in many ways, including issuing project calls that detail these areas of need. Our members then form teams to submit responses to the project call with the institute, and ARM funds the projects with the greatest potential to solve real issues in U.S. manufacturing. These teams catalyze important collaboration between diverse members, often bringing together organizations that would otherwise be considered competitors outside of the ARM membership consortium, to work together towards a common goal through participation on a project. ARM Institute projects are dually centered on solving Defense Industrial Base problems and broader issues in U.S. manufacturing.

A Multi-Year Plan for Robotics & AI Innovations in Casting & Forging Recently, the ARM Institute has been empowered by the Department of Defense to create a focused, multi-year roadmap that defines the advancements needed in robotics, automation, and workforce development to strengthen casting and forging in the U.S., prioritize these advancements, and identify high-impact near-term and intermediate-term solutions. The ARM Institute took a collaborative approach to this work, convening interactive workshops to gain input from the casting and forging industries, robotics experts, and Department of Defense stakeholders. Lowering the barrier between these groups to get them talking and collaborating was key – robotics experts walked away with a better understanding of the areas of need in casting and forging, casting and forging experts better understood existing and emerging robotics capabilities, and the ARM Institute and Department of Defense came away with a deeper understanding about the next steps needed to address these concerns. From these workshops, the ARM Institute identified several key focus areas that have the highest potential for impact in casting and forging, which include: • In-Process Monitoring and Inspection Driving Innovations Through Collaborative Projects Beyond roadmapping efforts, the ARM Institute has also funded several projects centered on robotic innovations in this area. For example, the ARM Institute’s Autonomous Robotic Metal Forming Project (led by The Ohio State University with team members Yaskawa and CapSen Robotics) sought to address the challenge of low volume, high mix production of complex metallic components. Forged metallic components are commonplace in the commercial automotive sector, high-end auto sports, heavy duty factory machinery, power plants, and in air, land, and sea-based military equipment. When replacement components are needed, particularly for aging systems, quality, cost, and lead time are often unable to be balanced for an acceptable solution. This project team designed and deployed an artificially intelligent (AI) robotic system capable of flexibly producing a myriad of component geometries in a timely and cost-effective manner. • Agile & Total Process Automation • Large Part Automation Competency • Digital Foundation

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