Manufacturing and robotics are critical to industry, but more than half of the production activities in a typical manufacturing operation are wasteful. ECE researchers are attempting to improve manufacturing efficiency by digitalizing factory floors, using sensors to collect data to monitor the machine and process performance. In the area of robotics, faculty are creating new methods to control robots for optimal reliability in challenging harsh environments such as underwater and outer space, where if there is a problem it would be costly or impossible to effect repairs. Researchers have also made significant advances in human-robot collaborative welding research, using virtual reality to create safe training environments and allow for remote operation of welding robots, combining the intelligence of human workers with the physical strength of robots to effectively finish complex tasks.
