Tech Project
Description of the challenges faced by the Tech Project
The project's vision is to transform and grow Irish manufacturing by integrating intelligence within products, machines, production systems and supply chains. Smart manufacturing has been defined as "the intelligent, real-time orchestration and optimisation of physical (people and equipment), digital and business processes within factories and across the entire value chain." The emergence of smart manufacturing is leading to a transformational change in all aspects of the supply chain, and is set to change how companies structure their manufacturing operations, and how they cooperate with suppliers and customers. Adopting the smart manufacturing transformation by understanding and addressing its challenges is critical for the long term competitiveness of Irish industry.
Brief description of technology
We are developing methods to help decision-making in complex manufacturing settings. Such systems are online and quite often oblivious to future events that could be disrupting their smooth operation. We address the challenge of designing sustainable systems that can operate in highly dynamic and uncertain environments by the introduction of sensors, decentralised decision-making. For instance, supply chains in manufacturing can be thought as world sized Rube-Goldberg machines or great ball contraption machines. A complex system made out of simple sensing capable entities orchestrated in such a way that it delivers manufactured products at the right place and right time. We are particularly interested in developing sustainable and resilient models.
What the project is looking to gain from the collaboration and what kind of artist would be suitable
Our project is focused on the design of automated decision systems. In turn, this translates in mathematical models, software prototypes and research papers. As it is often the case in research fields, getting exposure to the general public is not an easy task. This collaboration is a great opportunity for our research group to reach out to society and let people appreciate and possibly interact with a physical artistic interpretation of the ideas put forward by our group. The artist should be interested in societal topics such as sustainability of production systems and how data streams can be used to reorganize how goods are manufactured. Go Raibh Mile maith agaibh!
Resources available to the artist
You will be based in University College Cork, Ireland in a computer science lab where you will be free to interact with a team of skilled AI researchers. We can provide a desk along with an internet connection. Depending on the scope of the artist's project, we are keen to get in touch with artist groups in Cork to find a suitable space for the residency.