May 2025 Volume 7

AUTOMATION

The ARM Institute continued to build on the outputs from this project with the Autonomous Robotic Iterative Forging Phase 2 Project (led by Ohio State University with CapSen Robotics, Yaskawa, and Warner Robbins Air Force Base). The follow-on work centered on accelerating the productivity of the robotic system created in phase one of this project by: • Reducing the time required to position the component on the lower die • Removing the need for pauses during pressing to relieve forces and torques • Allowing for larger amounts of deformation to be taken on each iteration • Reducing the number of images needed for component geometry reconstruction • Reducing the time to heat material to forging temperatures • Reducing the amount of deformation needed to transform the initial geometry to the final geometry • Reducing the frequency of component imaging Michael Groeber, Associate Professor in Integrated Systems Engineering, as well as Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University, led both of these ARM Institute funded projects. He is also the Director of Manufacturing for OSU’s Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR) and the Faculty Director of the Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (AIMS) Laboratory. Michael also volunteers his expertise and time on the ARM Institute’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), a group that works to drive the ARM Institute’s technical strategy. “The ARM Institute projects have been great to work on and differ largely in their Technology Readiness Level (TRL) and focus on delivering more mature technologies. I really enjoy the space of taking technologic concepts to more hardened technologies in partnership with end users. The ARM Institute projects have allowed me to work on teams with academics, small business, large industry and government labs and depots to make truly useful technology. This is very rewarding. The final demonstrations, while stressful, really force a focus on delivery of usable technology.” – Michael Groeber Workforce Development in Tandem with Technology Advancement Technology cannot exist in a vacuum. Manufacturers of all sizes are facing a historic workforce shortage; the casting and forging industries are no exception. Focused efforts to build and empower a manufacturing workforce that is equipped to work alongside advanced technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation are critical to ensuring national security and strengthening the competitiveness of these firms. The ARM Institute is keenly focused in this area as well as technology advancement.

Working with its members, the ARM Institute has identified the skills and competencies needed for workers to work with these technologies. This information is critical both to helping students and workers understand the skills they need and to help training providers understand what skills they need to teach. This information feeds into the ARM Institute’s competency framework, which acts as the foundation for the institute’s RoboticsCareer.org platform. This platform connects students to training programs, job seekers to curated job listings, training providers to interested students, and enables hiring manufacturers to find qualified talent through RoboticsCareer.org’s free talent database. Further Plans & To Learn More This is just the start of the ARM Institute’s work to strengthen the casting and forging industries through collaborative action. The ARM Institute recently issued a technology project call focused on robotic inspection for the casting and forging industries, which was a direct result of the institute’s roadmap. A key component of this project call, and all ARM Institute project calls, is a plan by the team to transition the resulting innovations into industry use. With the projects concluding in May 2026, the ARM Institute looks forward to sharing the results of these efforts and having tangible use cases to point to the benefits of leveraging robotics, AI, and automation for casting and forging processes. To learn more about the ARM Institute’s work in this area and others, visit www.arminstitute.org. Cara Cranston Director of Technology Programs ARM Institute Email: Cara.cranston@arminstitute.org

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