Engineering - Other (59) Robotics and automation systems have been implemented in U.S. manufacturing settings with significant reductions in cost and improvements in competitiveness as a result. Through this project, undergraduate industrial engineering courses are being modified to include modules on flexible manufacturing through robotics and automation with coverage of topics such as dynamics, manipulation, trajectory planning, and programming. Other subject areas included in the courses are process planning, network communications, scheduling, robotic programming, and concurrent engineering. The flexible manufacturing system being developed through this project allows for various laboratory machines to be integrated and utilized for the manufacture of customized parts or for the design of reconfigurable scenarios. Hands-on laboratory experiences are being developed and evaluated for learning effectiveness through this project. Improvements in student learning and motivation are being rigorously assessed through a variety of measures and results of the project are being broadly disseminated.
