ABSTRACT
Smart factory research is paced up in the current decade due to the development of many enabling technologies and tools available to the developers. This has led to the progress of cyber physical systems in manufacturing, now coined as cyber physical production systems. The ultimate goal of this domain is to integrate underlying technologies and connect physical plants with the virtual factory in real time for improvement in product quality, process improvements, predictive maintenance, mass customization as well as mass production. The involved technology modules include sensor network, machine learning and AI, Internet of things, human machine interface, augmented reality and collaborative robotics. For the physical element in this research, a micro factory scenario is envisaged that consists of a high precision micro/nano positioning stage installed on a tabletop sized conventional machine tool, a collaborative robot for handling of micro parts and running of machine operations, other factory devices and a human worker for supervision tasks. Due to the multi-faceted technologies involved in both the virtual and physical systems, a simultaneous design strategy is followed in both domains. First, a flexure based micro positioning, 3-axis stage device is designed that can be installed on a conventional 3-axis desktop size milling machine. Secondly, a work zone is considered for effective human robot collaboration in the production area. The work zone considered as a social space is designed in a safe and secure way with the help of integrated devices, IoT and AI.
