AME - Automation and Control of Novel Manufacturing Processes

The Landers Research Group specializes in the development and implementation of experimental systems and algorithms for the automation and control of novel advanced manufacturing processes. Currently, the group is investigating digital metal forming, digital glass forming, and laser powder bed fusion of metals, as well as the use of robotics in digital manufacturing processes. These unique systems have open control systems to facilitate real time control and the integration of process sensors and control algorithms. Students will have the opportunity to investigate a variety of topics depending on their skills and interests. Potential projects include 1) using manufacturing Internet of Thing (IoT) techniques to calibrate an advanced process sensor, integrate it into a control system, and use it to monitor part quality, 2) using IoT data driven approaches to adaptively model a manufacturing process and create a digital twin, 3) developing algorithms to monitor the manufacturing process and determine defects, 4) creating learning algorithms to automatically adjust process parameters to regulate operation productivity and part quality, etc. Each research project consists of a combination of physical prototyping, sensor integration, real-time programming, modeling, control algorithm development, etc. Undergraduate research projects can be tailored to be broad and cover many of these areas for one process, or the projects can be narrowly focused on an in-depth topic in one of these areas, which can be applied for a variety of processes.