#Factories of the future: assembly-line machines do their own'thinking'A major consumer of time and money in the manufacturing of aircraft, motor vehicles,
electronic equipment and other products is adapting assembly lines to produce different sizes, shapes and styles of such complex items.
Work must stop along the line while machines are reconfigured to change how raw materials are cut,
holes are drilled, and rivets are punched into place. Each machine in a factory needs to be equipped with specific instructions a sort of recipe to carry out a certain task in a certain way.
This decades-old technique could be on the verge of changing. An EU-funded project has developed assembly-line machines that can do their own hinking. ur goal is to avoid these recipes,
Peschl coordinated the XPRESS project-short for lexible Production Experts for Reconfigurable Assembly Technology. By designing assembly-line machines so they can perform on command not unlike robots that can follow verbal instructions factories can meet the rapidly changing needs of consumers and industrial customers
while developing high-quality products at lower costs. The XPRESS team has developed an intelligent machine called a anufactron.
Peschl explains how the system works: ormally, when you cut metal to different shapes and thicknesses,
or when you drill a hole, you have to programme the machine in the factory accordingly.
With XPRESS, the manufactrons receive information to drill a hole, and based on this information, the machine itself decides which kind of drill-bit to use and the speed of the drill.
We describe the task to the machine, but the manufactron takes it from there analysing the information
and choosing the proper tools and settings. owadays, we have human experts who decide how a job should be performed optimally,
continues Peschl. ur idea is for the machine to decide internally how to do it, so we have included the expertise into the machine.
Different models of aircraft have different body shapes, different types of seats and cabins, and so on.
This costs time and money. PRESS can help significantly reduce costs by having the machines themselves adapt to different aeroplane models
with minimal change over and manual work. In addition to aerospace, the XPRESS technology has also been tested in electronics, for manufacturing industrial switches;
and in automobiles, for making car bodies. XPRESS has shown that the time for setting up production lines can be reduced by up to 50 percent,
change over time can be cut by up to 80 percent, unexpected changes in production volumes can be dealt with better,
workers can be more flexible when production cycles and requirements change, and that the new XPRESS technology can be woven into existing factories
and machines. e have managed, for the first time, to enable machines to perform by only receiving information on the task,
states Peschl. his is really a breakthrough.?
#The telltale blood of schizophrenics It can take a long time for schizophrenia sufferers to receive the treatment they need partly
because diagnosis is not necessarily straightforward. Many of the symptoms could just as easily be caused by other disorders.
A revolutionary blood test developed by EU-funded researchers helps doctors to make the right call.
The EU-funded Schizdx project has developed the world first blood test for schizophrenia. This breakthrough dramatically reduces the time needed to confirm suspected cases
and provide treatment. Finding the best combination of drugs for individual patients is another key challenge in the treatment of this disorder.
or split personalities involved in schizophrenia. It is a disorder where the various mental functions gradually break down,
Hallucinations and delusions are a hallmark of this condition, but they are just two of a multitude of potentially disabling symptoms.
doctors first need to know it there. Given that the symptoms could be caused by a variety of problems,
diagnosis isn easy. Other psychotic disorders, notably bipolar disorder and depression, can have similar manifestations. There could also be physical causes.
The fact that sufferers tend to hide their condition further complicates matters, says Professor Sabine Bahn of the University of Cambridge Centre for Neuropsychiatric Research, a partner in the project.
People developing symptoms of schizophrenia don usually attribute their altered sense of reality to an illness.
However, many realise that others might question their mental health if they were fully aware of the situation.
The disorder can therefore go undiagnosed for years. And once it is detected it can take many months to find a suitable drug regime.
Not just in the mind Faster diagnosis accelerates the recovery process, but that isn the only advantage.
The blood test could also help to detect the disease in the early stages, improving the chances of successful management.
and managed early do better in the long run. he fact that mental disorders have a physical component has been known for a long time,
People who have a mental disorder have a much higher rate of diabetes for example. They also have changes in their immune system.
The Schizdx team conducted extensive research into the traces that schizophrenia and similar psychotic disorders leave in the body.
The aim was twofold: the partners wanted to advance the understanding of these diseases in general,
so as to generate leads for the development of new drugs, and they also wanted to develop innovative diagnostic tools.
The blood test the first of its kind for the diagnosis of a mental health condition has been commercialised
Multiple possibilities Other potential developments include upgrading the test to include bipolar disorder and depression. The aim would be to create a test that can cover the three disorders in one go not ustto establish
or doesn have schizophrenia, but to determine which, if any, of the three disorders the person does have.
a new generation of surgical implants A new manufacturing process for surgical implants will reduce the recovery time associated with traditional implants.
Dental and medical implants can be essential to recovering the normal functioning damaged teeth and bones.
However, traditional implants often fit imperfectly or use materials that are not fully compatible with the body,
which can cause post-surgery complications. In addition, patients often have long waiting times for implants
prolonging discomfort before treatment. Inspired by rapid manufacturing processes used for industrial prototypes, researchers at the EU-funded project Custom-IMD looked at how to overcome these problems.
Pooling their expertise, the group developed materials, software and procedures for building custom-made, biocompatible prosthetics using small-scale manufacturing techniques.
Because the process integrates imaging, design and manufacture, it can build a safe, strong implant within 48 hours of receiving an order.
This system uses 3d images of the body to calculate the exact shape and size of the implant the patient needs.
It then builds the new part by laser sintering a process in which lasers are guided by an image to add layers of powdered material on top of each other where needed until the exact shape required is achieved.
Efficiency by design The new technology reduces waiting times and post-surgery complications, saving on care costs and helping patients resume their normal lives more quickly.
The faster surgery and shorter hospitalisation times also reduce the impact on patientslives. Manufacturing costs are reduced, too.
Dr Hurtos says that the main impact on implant production costs is the process automation and use of materials.
Overall, the more efficient process could save up to 20%of the cost of using traditional implants in Europe.
The only new costs for hospitals are for the materials. Access to the software for the process is simple
Dr Hurtos says. ou just need internet access to an online platform where algorithms anonymise the medical images for confidentiality,
she says. Innovative polymers and ceramics and novel image-processing software from the project are already being commercialised.
Several of the companies involved in the project have taken out patents on their results, while breakthroughs in automatic manufacturing are expected to benefit other industries.
cranial implants and fully ceramic dental implants are now commercially available. Dr Hurtos says this is also the first step towards new types of spinal implant
and customised alternatives to titanium implants for broken bones, although new applications need to pass strict medical device regulations for implant suppliers.
The collaboration between 22 very diverse specialist institutions from six different countries brought a unique solution to cost,
design and manufacturing problems in prosthetics manufacture. Links from the project are going strong in new work on tailoring cell responses for the body to repair its own tissues.
#Developing high-efficiency lasers to manufacture solar panels As the world continues its efforts to combat climate change
Image of blue skyscraper kiko-Fotolia. com The manufacturing of solar energy panels is therefore likely to grow into a significant industry,
which would enhance the manufacturing of solar energy panels, making them more efficient and less expensive than anything currently available.
but also delivering environmental benefits through the development of improved methods for harnessing solar energy. urope is a global powerhouse
says Professor Stefano Selleri of Università degli Studi di Parma in Italy, ALPINE project coordinator. hat is more,
adds Professor Selleri, he commercial potential of this technology is enormous. Just consider the fact that the laser
and fibre laser market has remained completely unaffected by a global economic crisis which left very few other sectors undamaged.
Solar panels are able to function because they have intricate patterns of tiny channels engraved into their surface,
forming electrical circuits. Until now, these icrochannelshave been engraved mechanically, using a sharp stylus. The primary focus of the ALPINE project was to pioneer the use of new fibre laser technology to do this engraving
This novel laser system was given especially important the requirement for the scribing process to work with the new,
high-tech materials now being developed for solar panels. In place of conventional solar panels measuring up to 5 millimetres in thickness,
the modern PV industry is looking to use new types of lightweight and flexible materials to construct solar panels measured in micrometres (thousandths of a millimetre).
With such materials, the scribing process must be controlled with a high degree of accuracy since it is vital that it penetrates only one layer of the thin solar cell film at a time.
PCF lasers provide this accuracy. Moreover, since PCF lasers operate with ultra-short pulse rates,
whether the panels are deployed terrestrially or in space. Their significantly reduced weight is one clear benefit.
the flexibility means that solar panels can be wrapped onto any suitable structure, flat or curved. The results of the ALPINE team work, demonstrating the capability of PCF lasers to transform existing scribing technology and opening the way to rapid growth in the high-volume production of flexible,
thin-film solar cells, are hard to overestimate. In the words of Professor Selleri: echanical scribing will disappear very quickly from the PV industry,
to be replaced by laser scribing. This will not only increase the processing speed, but it will also reduce the cost of ownership of the new technology because of its low maintenance and its cost-efficiency.
This will open it up to new companies and SMES. t
#A portable asbestos detector that could save thousands of lives. A European research project, ALERT, has developed an asbestos detection device that could save thousands of lives.
The project team is building the first real-time, portable detector of asbestos fibres in the air. The low-cost ALERT Rapid Asbestos Detection (ARAD) tool,
which will be the size of a hand-held drill, is expected to enable construction workers and surveyors to test for the mineral's presence in building and demolition sites.
ALERT project coordinator Alan Archer says the tool is expected to instantly give potentially lifesaving information about the levels of asbestos to people working on building and demolition sites
surveying premises, and even firefighters. e hope this instrument will prompt a major change in the way the world addresses the dangers of asbestos, with the ultimate goal of saving lives,
he states. Once embraced as the iracle mineralfor its tough, flexible, fireproof qualities, asbestos is seen now as a health hazard.
It causes lung diseases like the malignant form of cancer called mesothelioma. Yet asbestos is still with us.
Exposure from legacy asbestos products like insulation is the leading cause of work related deaths worldwide,
and until now there has been no way of detecting the lethal presence of asbestos fibres in the air.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 125 million people worldwide encounter white asbestos in the workplace
while the International labour organization (ILO) estimates that 100,000 workers worldwide die each year from all asbestos-related diseases.
ALERT project picks up research from the 1990s by the University of Hertfordshire, UK, which found a way to detect asbestos fibres through a new light scattering technique.
At the time, the project stalled as it was seen as too costly, but the ALERT consortium used recent technological innovations
and added them to existing research to build a low-cost, portable detector. ur challenge was to take this science
and turn it into a practical and affordable instrument capable of alerting people to the potential presence of this lethal airborne carcinogen,
says Archer, who is also the Managing director of the UK-based product development company Select Group.
Archer says the project has potentially immense implications. here are no safe levels of asbestos exposure
and there are currently no portable real-time airborne detectors on the market, he says. Until now, the only test possible was a laboratory analysis,
a process that can take days and wastes valuable time, often leaving those working in asbestos-laden buildings at risk of exposure.
Archer is currently working with third parties to develop new prototypes capable of addressing specific market sectors such as demolition
emergency services, asbestos removal and hazardous waste sites. ith ALERT tool, we can give 30 million European workers a means of detecting asbestos the moment it is disturbed,
allowing them to protect themselves and avoid becoming one of the 100,000 people worldwide killed each year by exposure to asbestos,
concludes Archer o
#Smart adaptable machines for the production line. The EU-funded project ADACOM completed in 2012 sought to address a pressing challenge facing the entire European manufacturing sector:
how to improve production flexibility and efficiency so as to stay ahead in a highly competitive globalised world.
The project consortium made up of automotive electronics and printing machine manufacturers their suppliers and universities approached the problem by focusing on a process central to their manufacturing activities:
metal cutting. The team developed a generic modular adaptive control platform sensors processes and actuator systems for the milling turning gun-drilling
and grinding operations involved in metal cutting operations. The modular platform is designed to adapt cutting processes efficiently to changes on the production line such as speed or feed rate temperature increases and wear and tear.
The team first identified the key parameters needed for adaptive machining systems. Then prototypes were built at universities before being tested in industrial plants.
The full system adaptation is controlled by sensors. The results were overwhelmingly positive with consistent improvements in production recorded following the introduction of adaptive manufacturing. he system also has environmental benefitssays project coordinator Dr Dra en Veselovac Chair of Manufacturing Technology
at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule in Aachen Germany. he use of adaptive systems will reduce scrap increase the lifetime of production systems
and enhance the efficient use of resources like water electricity and raw materials. Gearing up for the future Through a number of case studies the team addressed specific problems affecting the milling grinding and drilling of different metals.
In each an industrial partner teamed up with a university and a sensor provider. In the case study involving Daimler one of the biggest automotive manufacturers in Europe the research led to a new milling strategy to reduce the manufacturing time for new gear concepts.
The new process also introduced much-coveted flexibility by applying an adaptive milling strategy to a standard milling tool it was possible to produce new gear shapes faster. aimler now has a general reusable machine tool that is geometrically adaptive
and is capable of creating high-quality gears very quickly without the need for investment in new equipmentexplains Dr Veselovac. he demonstration we ran with Bosch has similarly now been integrated into their mass production.
Another project partner a supplier of advanced composites to the aerospace defence and automotive sectors sought to identify a milling strategy that would produce the optimal surface finish
while preventing burning. An adaptation strategy was developed that would deliver near to real-time temperature information to prevent overheating
and damage to tools. One unexpected but very welcome result has been shown the interest by the global aerospace sector with large manufacturers planning to adopt the system in the production of critical engine components.
#The artificial hand that'feels'like a real one As far as medical research has come towards treating illness and injury,
doctors and technicians have yet to develop an artificial hand that can give amputees the sensation of having a natural hand.
Picture of robot and human arm Mopic-Fotolia The Smarthand project succeeded in developing a system that essentially tricks the brain into thinking that a real hand is attached to a person arm. hat for decades has been one of medicine greatest challenges
says Smarthand coordinator Fredrik Sebelius of Lund University in Sweden. his offers hope to amputees for a more functional artificial hand,
biotechnology and information technologies to develop an artificial hand that patients were able to experience, to some degree,
as well as sensors that control how hard the hand grips an object. e have designed and produced an artificial hand that gives a person a realistic sensation of having a natural hand,
says Sebelius. Even beyond the physical disability that amputees suffer, many must also deal with depression, a distorted self-image,
had no sensory abilities, needed heavy batteries, and were difficult to keep clean. As a result, many amputees chose not to use them. hat we have developed could truly help people overcome these difficulties,
#The gold standard for cancer treatment Humanity battle against cancer is an unceasing one, and in recent years, new technologies have improved steadily the odds of beating the disease.
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the five-year survival rate for breast cancer in most member countries is now over 80%.
But doctors have discovered that they are not effective against all cancers; tumours tend to become resistant during lengthy treatment,
and their toxicity can cause kidney failure and other systemic damage. Professor Dolores Fregona and her research team at the University of Padua in Italy designed and tested gold compounds with the aim of elivering the metal as a cytotoxic smart bombkilling off cancer cells while minimising the impact on other organs.
Five years ago, they secured EU funding for the PEPMIDAS project, and launched a laboratory screening programme using cisplatin as the reference. he side effects of chemotherapy,
says Professor Fregona. nterestingly, our compounds show different action mechanisms. The team focused on two types of cancer:
breast and prostate. Experiments on female mice bearing highly metastatic human breast cancer cells, using two gold compounds known as Aud6
and Aud8, revealed a 53%reduction in cancer growth compared to the control treatment, within a month.
ruling out the onset of side effects due to chemotherapy, explains the professor. Furthermore, the team discovered that aggressive prostate cancer cells (resistant to cisplatin) were also sensitive to Aud8 and Aud9 gold derivatives
and slowed their proliferation, without any discernible toxic impact on lungs, spleen, liver or kidney.
I had obtained not financial support, I would not have been able to make the patent. In addition, the work has garnered a series of awards, both Italian and international.
Prof. Fregona herself won the Belluno Women of Excellence prize in 2011. Her collaborator 29-year-old Phd student Chiara Nardon, was named top young innovator in the field of biochemistry in 2013,
and was able to exchange notes with the world most brilliant chemists at the Lindau Nobel laureate Meeting in Germany.
The team needs to secure enough backing to complete preclinical studies and launch the first phase of clinical trials.
Fregona has identified already a private investor and is setting up a spin-off company, and may apply for further EU funding through the Horizon 2020 programme.
in order to undertake the experimental phase among terminally ill cancer patients. Project details Project acronym PERMIDAS Participants:
Brain injuries suffered in a car crash during a business trip in Dubai have left the 47-year-old unable to work.
Then I hit my head into the seat of the driver. And I was rolling inside the car somewhere,
I don have any picture of that anymore, The severity of his injuries only became apparent sometime after the accident.
He would get regular blackouts. He lost mobility in parts of his body. Rehabilitation has helped improve his quality of life.
So it is about learning news ways of living with new rules Is there a way for traumatic brain injury victims like Jouni get a second chance at a normal life?
Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIS, are difficult to treat. As every trauma is different, and because our brains control virtually all bodily functions it is often a challenge for neurologists to offer a clear diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
To that end a European research project has developed a huge interactive database of TBI-related physiology patterns to help doctors help their patients, with comprehensive and valuable information.
Olli Tenovuo, Neurologist, Turku University Hospital explains the content: ll (the patient) clinical background. What kind of diseases has had the patient before?
Are there any earlier injuries, and what kind of injuries? What kind of drugs have been used for treatments?
Also what does the medical imaging tell us or what does the blood biomarkers (blood samples) tell us The database allows neurologists to compare their patientscases with similar ones.
The project biomedical engineers combined algorithms and statistical models to enable analysts to accurately predict the outcome of planned treatments for individual patients. here is quite often missing data.
It is not always possible to take pictures, or to take blood samples in certain circumstances,
says Mark van Gils, the VTT/TBICARE project coordinator. o what we are doing is to develop robust,
reliable metasets that are understandable for cliniciansjouni is engaged now fully in a customised rehabilitation programme,
that has included even making a speech at a seminar on traumatic brain injuries. After some difficult months, he says he now looking to the future:
trying to find a good balance in my life. From music, from friends. Maybe soon I can engage in some kind of voluntary work,
maybe when time goes I can engage in some voluntary work with other patients who are in a similar situation, maybe
The plasma protection is designed to increase the adhesion of the coating and therefore its resistance over time. fter a while
Plasma treatment is a versatile and powerful technique: by producing high frequency electric discharges, plasma generates'ionised'gas that can change the surface properties of the material it is in contact with.
Bugnicourt says the consortium looked at plasma treatments as they can either'hydrophobise'(waterproof) wood surfaces
or make them more compatible with waterborne coatings. She says the plasma pre-treatment could add five to seven years life to the wood. lasma is an innovative technology with many applications,
and is something that we will hear more from over time, Bugnicourt says. t has many qualities,
and is used, for example, in the food and pharmaceutical industries to sterilise. During this project we developed a lot of valuable knowledge
and know-how regarding how plasma adds to wood protection, she adds. The European wood processing industry which includes forest workers
and sawmills-employs some 3. 5 million people and generates an annual turnover in the region of#400 billion.
Bugnicourt says between 50 and 100 million tonnes of wood could use Durawood pre-treatment system every year. urawood could help the timber industry by improving the quality of products
and materials more effectively without harming the environment, while observing the legislation. t a cost-efficient, durable,
and environmentally friendly technology, says Bugnicourt. t means better use of forest resources, longer lasting wood products,
and for end users, less maintenance, she concludes s
#Handy Robots Handy Robots The human hand, a masterpiece of evolution, has for a long time been impossible to recreate artificially.
Its complex mechanics and high sensitivity have challenged the best masters of robotics. Now, as if straight from science fiction, a robotic hand is a reality.
and Marie Curie University in Paris. Researchers from six EU countries joined forces to make a hand that looks,
says Robotics Professor Véronique Perdereau, co-ordinator of the UPCM/HANDLE project. Humans naturally adapt their grasp,
scientists made a large database of various grips and movements that the robot uses to get the required results. he hand needs to be equipped with various sensors to collect as much information as possible about
what happens when the hand approaches the object, when it picks up the object, and while it manipulating the object
Using video cameras, the robot studies its surroundings before planning its movements. From its database, it chooses the right actions to complete the task successfully. t uses a colour camera that collects distance data to detect the required object and any possible obstacles.
Based on the shape of the object, it can determine how to seize it avoiding any collisions,
and thanks to fingertip sensors, it can be sure that the grasp it has chosen is correct,
they can give a helping hand to make our work and lives safer and more enjoyable. f we manage to imitate human dexterity,
then we can imagine robots that will be capable to work alone in dangerous environments, such as nuclear objects or space.
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