Thank you for mHUB’s letter of support earlier this year when we proposed for a DoD project via MxD to enable addition of sensors to our folding helmet to enable monitoring and well-being of the warfighters. We are working with Arduino and Bosch Sensortec to productize this and will be manufacturing it starting next month for different use cases ranging from industrial, military, first responder, commercial and well care.
We are proposing for a new RFP floated by MxD to revamp their marquee cell that touches all aspects of manufacturing in the new that is showcased when you enter the MxD factory floor portal. They want to be able to lift-and-shift the existing setup that creates coin tokens from an aluminium billet. It has all aspects of typical manufacturing from raw material, CNCing it to create the disks for the coins, cleaning it, laser etching it and scanning it for identification (no serial numbers) in an assembly line process with sensors, procurement, wastemangement and other process management tools.
MxD would like to re-vamp this set up with the latest smart manufacturing gadgetry with AI vision sensing, cobots and an orchestration of the process that accounts for interactivity, safety, troubleshooting, circumventing inclement conditions and preventing downtime complete with metrics, analytics and a basis for maintenance (predictive and prescriptive).
We are partnering with:
- 965 Chicago and Stroma Vision for the IoT basis they bring to the table,
- Microsoft Federal and Defense & Intelligence units for the hardware and data foundation using their Azure platform
- Siemens (possibly) for their Engineering Management (Mindspehere and Mendix) and Digital Twin expertise that is already showcased in other cells at MxD (NOT APPLICABLE FOR THIS PROJECT)
- Oqton‘s Manufacturing Operating System for the themed the management of IoT information. Oqton is a subsidiary of 3D Systems.
- Other individuals and contractors at mHUB
to help build out MxD’s next version of the discrete test cell.
Numorpho‘s basis is process automation, and this will be a flagship project for us. It will validate our Digital Twine Reference architecture (that I have run by Thierry from its inception – thank you for being a great sounding board and your themed advice on different matters related to a startups journey) and provide a strong basis for it’s end-to-end design and implementation.
Our goal is to create a human-centric platform that is driven by intelligent cobots independently or in concert with operators (if needed) and also allow customization of the product it creates (different tokens) that could be mass produced (by quantity) or individually (on demand). These are requirements that are specified in the RFP with future capabilities to enable ARVs to interact with the system in the future.
If we do get the project our goal is to create a Proto factory floor space (20 ft x 25 ft) in mHUB, work on the different elements of the project and finally transfer it to the mHUB location. The project duration would be 1 year from commencement. Here are the items that we would be doing with mHUB’s participation:
- Procure Proto Factory space in our (mHUB’s) new location (size 20ft x25 ft)
- Involve mHUB member companies, individuals and contractors
- Have several brainstorming sessions via HardTech Development Services to tease out the different aspects of the project
The proposal is due May 25, and I am coordinating all the different needs for it. Please let me know from mHUB’s perspective what you think of this and how can we proceed. I believe this would be a great showcase for all players and show cause as to how mHUB and MxD join together to make a strong basis for showcasing the power of Smart Manufacturing in the Chicagoland area.
We intend this to be the perfect project to showcase the art of the possible to showcase smart manufacturing driven by the science of engineering.
NI+IN UCHIL Founder, CEO & Technical Evangelist
nitin.uchil@numorpho.com