Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics

Georgia Tech Part of $5 Million Grant-Funded Center to Advance Robotics in Poultry Processing

admin — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 20:01:03 +0000

Georgia Tech Part of $5 Million Grant-Funded Center to Advance Robotics in Poultry Processing admin Fri, 03/10/2023 - 15:01

This news release first appeared in the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture newsroom, and has been tailored for Georgia Tech readers.

Researchers at Georgia Tech, the University of Arkansas System, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Fort Valley State University in Georgia were awarded a $5 million grant to increase use of artificial intelligence and robotics in chicken processing to reduce waste in deboning and detect pathogens.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture will establish the Center for Scalable and Intelligent Automation in Poultry Processing. The center, led by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, will join researchers from five institutions in three states in efforts to adapt robotic automation to chicken meat processing.

Douglas Britton, manager of the Agricultural Technology Research Program at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), said his team was very excited to work on this project with experts at the four other institutions.

“The ultimate goal is to drive transformational innovation into the poultry and meat processing industry through automation, robotics, AI, and VR technologies,” Britton said. “Building on years of work in the GTRI Agricultural Technology Research Program, we are pleased to see that the USDA-NIFA has chosen this team to continue these efforts.”

Georgia Tech is a major partner in the project, and was awarded $2 million to focus on automating the processing lines that turn chickens into meat, said Jeyam Subbiah, professor and head of the food science department for the Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, and director of the project. The grant is for four years.

The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture, will receive $2.2 million from the grant primarily to focus on food safety automation for poultry processing plants.

The remaining grant money will be divided between Julia McQuillan, Willa Cather professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Brou Kuoakou, associate dean for research at Fort Valley State University in Georgia.

Jeff Buhr, a USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist, will contribute his expertise in broiler physiology to guide robotic deboning of meat, Subbiah said.

Georgia is the nation’s top broiler producer. Arkansas is number 3, according to 2021 figures from USDA.

Meeting the challenge

The recent impetus to automate chicken processing began with the Covid-19 pandemic, Subbiah said. The illness spread quickly among workers on the processing line. Since the worst of the pandemic, the poultry industry, like many others, has been having trouble hiring enough workers.

“Poultry processing lines began 70 to 80 years ago,” Subbiah said. “Since then, there have been only incremental changes in technology. Today, there’s a need for transformative change.”

Humans can feel when a knife hits a bone. In contrast, existing automation in poultry processing, like deboners, wastes a lot of meat.

“Human deboners leave about 13 percent of meat on the bones,” Subbiah said. “Automated deboners leave 16 to 17 percent. On an industrial scale, that’s a significant loss in value. We will use artificial intelligence and virtual reality to improve precision and reduce wastage.”

Automation can relieve labor shortages, Subbiah said. It also allows plants to locate in rural areas with a smaller labor force but nearer poultry houses and with lower property costs.

Initially, people working remotely may help advance robotic processing. Subbiah envisions workers logging on from home with virtual-reality goggles and haptics gloves to control robots located miles away.

While working remotely, the labor force will teach artificial intelligence how to cut up chickens of varying sizes and shapes.

“Automated machines right now are programmed to debone or cut up chickens based on an average size and shape. But no chicken is that size or shape,” Subbiah said. “Robot-wielded knives cut meat poorly. The machines have to learn how to adjust to the reality of random sizes and shapes.”

Georgia Tech’s participating scientists are all part of GTRI:

Douglas Britton, manager of the Agricultural Technology Research Program
Colin Trevor Usher, senior research scientist and branch head of robotics systems and technology, Agricultural Technology Research Program
Ai-Ping Hu, principal research engineer, Agricultural Technology Research Program
Konrad Ahlin, research engineer, Intelligent Sustainable Technologies Division
Michael Park, research engineer, Intelligent Sustainable Technologies Division
Benjamin Joffe, research scientist, Intelligent Sustainable Technologies Division
Shreyes Melkote, the Morris M. Bryan, Jr. Professorship in Mechanical Engineering, associate director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute and executive director of the Novelis Innovation Hub

“We are thrilled to partner with our colleagues here in the Division of Agriculture, as well as our colleagues at Georgia Tech and the other participating institutions on this exciting project,” said David Caldwell, head of the Division of Agriculture’s poultry science department and director of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science.

“We expect the findings from these coordinated research projects will be impactful for our stakeholders in the commercial poultry industry here in Northwest Arkansas and throughout the entire industry,” Caldwell said. “This project will help keep moving technology forward in processing and food safety of poultry.”

For more information about the project, see the original press release on the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture website.

Summary sentence

Researchers at Georgia Tech and four other institutes were awarded the grant to increase use of artificial intelligence and robotics in chicken processing.

Dateline

Fri, 03/10/2023 - 12:00

Contact

Catherine Barzler, Senior Research Writer and Editor

Location

Atlanta, GA

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go-researchnews

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Business and Economic Development

Science and Technology

Core research areas

Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics

Robotics

Mercury ID

666614

Source updated

Fri, 03/10/2023 - 14:54

Executive Director Selected at Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Institute

bwaye3 — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 17:17:26 +0000

Executive Director Selected at Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Institute bwaye3 Mon, 06/13/2022 - 13:17

The Georgia Institute of Technology has selected Thomas R. Kurfess as the new executive director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI). Kurfess is the HUSCO/Ramirez Distinguished Chair in Fluid Power and Motion Control and professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and received an S.M. degree from MIT in electrical engineering and computer science.

“Chaouki Abdallah, executive vice president for research, and I are very excited about Tom taking on this role. Advanced manufacturing is a top federal priority as an ‘industry of the future.’ Tom’s experience and international reputation from his history in academia, industry, and the government will be a great complement to our existing vibrant community of students, staff, and faculty committed to manufacturing research and education—positioning Georgia Tech to meet regional, national, and global needs,” said Julia Kubanek, vice president for interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech.

“We’re grateful for the efforts of the search committee led by Professor Meisha Shofner and to the leadership of Professor Ben Wang as executive director of GTMI for 11 years until he stepped down at the end of May. We also appreciate Professor Shreyes Melkote for serving as interim director this month while we finalized Tom’s appointment.”

Kurfess first joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 1994, and has taken on a variety of special assignments in addition to his teaching and research.

His research focuses on the design and development of advanced manufacturing systems targeting secure digital manufacturing, additive and subtractive processes, and large-scale production enterprises. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). He was president of SME in 2018, and currently serves on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

During 2019-2021, Kurfess was on leave serving as the chief manufacturing officer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where he was responsible for strategic planning for ORNL in advanced manufacturing. He was also the founding director for the Manufacturing Science Division at ORNL.

He served as the assistant director for advanced manufacturing at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the executive office of the President of the United States of America from 2012-2013, where he was responsible for coordinating federal advanced manufacturing research and development.

“For decades, Georgia Tech has led the Nation’s academic institutions in the advanced manufacturing sector. It is an honor for me to be tapped to continue our efforts in this area. I am excited to take the helm at the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) in continuing its role as a technology leader in advanced manufacturing for the State of Georgia, the United States, and the world. We will be a conduit enabling the Georgia Tech community in their efforts to accelerate and develop manufacturing technologies and workforce capabilities, providing a forum in which they can openly collaborate, and facilities that are world-class for their efforts. I look forward to engaging a wide range of traditional and nontraditional teams integrating technical areas with business, economic, and policy areas to provide a manufacturing basis for the U.S. and the world that will ensure a strong, just, secure and equitable future for society,” said Kurfess.

“Given that GTMI is one of Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, I look forward to engaging a wide range of traditional and nontraditional teams integrating technical areas with business, economic, and policy areas to provide a manufacturing basis for the U.S. and the world that will ensure a strong, just, secure and equitable future for society.”

The Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute (GTMI) is one of Georgia Tech’s 10 interdisciplinary research institutes, and an integral part of the broader Georgia Tech research enterprise. In 2021, GTMI celebrated its 30th anniversary. GTMI's mission is to convene industry leaders, government partners, and top researchers to collaborate on the grand challenges facing the U.S. manufacturing industry today: accelerating technology development and deployment, creating quality jobs, ensuring global competitiveness, and advancing economic and environmental stability.

Summary sentence

Executive Director Selected at Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Institute

Dateline

Fri, 06/10/2022 - 12:00

Location

Atlanta, GA

Associated importer

Keywords

go-researchnews

go-gtmi

News room topics

Campus and Community

Core research areas

Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics

Mercury ID

658809

Source updated

Mon, 06/13/2022 - 08:36

A break in the baby formula supply chain

bwaye3 — Tue, 31 May 2022 13:47:02 +0000

A break in the baby formula supply chain bwaye3 Tue, 05/31/2022 - 09:47

A national shortage has parents and families across the country struggling to feed newborns as store shelves have been left bare of baby formula products – including many brands critical to young children with specific vulnerabilities. Retailers are having to ration their supplies, some parents have resorted to shipping in formula from overseas, and social media sites have been used to crowdsource goods to be shipped to parents nervous about where their children’s next meal might come from.

Georgia Tech economics expert Tibor Besedes says it has been a perfect storm of issues to create this stress-inducing situation.

“Like many other industries, the formula producers have faced supply chain issues with respect to ingredients and containers. Waves of Covid-19 infections have affected their workforce and how much formula they can produce,” explained Besedes.

The final straw that may have led to this nationwide shortage: an Abbott production shutdown in February 2022 after several babies were sickened and two died from bacterial infections connected to consuming baby formula from the Sturgis, Michigan facility. A recall followed, and that facility is believed to make at least 20% of all formula bought by consumers nationwide.

“It is one of a few plants in the U.S. producing formula,” said Besedes. “That fact itself is a bottleneck as those few plants operating in the U.S. produce 98% of all formula sold in the U.S.”

“The formula market has been highly concentrated for a long time,” explained Lindsay Rose Bullinger, Georgia Tech assistant professor of public policy. “Now we’re dealing with a crisis and it’s hard to be proactive.”

The overwhelming majority of those formula products are only made by four different companies, explains Wendy White, a nationally known food safety expert.

“Because infant formula is the sole source of nutrition and targeted at such a vulnerable population, it has extra regulations in the Infant Formula Act of 1980,” explains White.

This includes mandatory registration for any infant formula manufacturers and requirements for all formulation, processing details, and ingredient lists to be filed with the FDA.

The regulations are critical, according to Bullinger.

“We’re trying to make a product comparable to breast milk. Newborn children can’t digest many of the proteins in cow’s milk,” she explained.

Formula is developed by scientists in highly regulated environments for infants that are incredibly susceptible to sickness as their immune and digestive systems have just begun adapting to nourishment outside of the womb.

Diluted or homemade options do not provide the right balance of nutrients that infants need at the most critical time of their lives. Manufactured formulas are made in highly sterile environments to avoid harmful additions from getting into these mixtures.

“It’s incredibly hard to get that right in a home environment without introducing bacteria,” Bullinger said.

Those strict regulations also mean that possible scenarios to help alleviate this formula shortage have been complicated. Just shipping some in from another country? Not so fast.

“Foreign manufacturers need to obtain FDA approvals to begin exporting to the U.S. to make up the shortage,” said Besedes. “The FDA is now looking at manufacturers based in countries with similar regulations to expedite their approvals and increase shipments to the U.S.”

The first relief came from overseas within the past week – a shipment of about 70,000 pounds of formula. More foreign shipments are expected in the coming days, but the supply may only last for about a week as issues continue to compound.

“Once there was a recall and parents heard, they started stockpiling formula,” said White. The result is taking already short supplies and stretching them even thinner.

“The supply chain has to also deal with the unneeded bullwhip effect due to shortage gaming and hoarding behavior, making the situation even worse than what it should be,” says Operations Management Associate Professor Morvarid Rahmani.

White also says that 50% of the infant formula in America is purchased through government subsidies.

States who provide this assistance often sign exclusive contracts with one of these four formula manufacturers. Abbott carries the contract in nearly two-thirds of U.S. states – complicating the purchases for families with infants in those locations.

“Families in communities that are economically disenfranchised may be disproportionately affected,” explained Bullinger. “But even if you have the money, if you cannot buy formula how else are you supposed to feed an infant.”

Families who rely on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also commonly known as food stamps) or Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) may not be able to choose which brand of formula they can receive. They can only get the formula their state has a contract with. If it is out, they may just be out of luck.

Some of the most hard-to-find infant formulas are the specialized products developed for newborns with milk allergies or other digestive issues. There’s a special emphasis on sourcing those products for parents in need.

So how much longer could this shortage impact American consumers? At least a few weeks, Georgia Tech’s experts say.

“Abbott is estimating that it’ll take about two weeks to get production to resume but another 6-8 weeks to get formula back on supermarket shelves,” says White.

That means the closed facility should be open in late May with production back up to full speed sometime in August. Limited diversity in the market has left parents in a bind.

“A shortage could be alleviated by increasing output of other plants and manufacturers, which is being done, but it is difficult to replace an entire plant,” explained Besedes.

“Ramping up production has been difficult because of shortages in labor and ingredients as well as production scheduling challenges,” explained Rahmani.

Some desperate parents have had to resort to extreme measures. But pediatricians have said infants should only be fed formula or breast milk. Anything else is likely deficient. Using alternative feeding methods could lead to long-term problems.

“There is a risk that a shortage will mean babies will not be getting the nutrition they need to develop. That could lead to a range of health problems affecting their physical growth and brain development,” explained Senior Research Engineer Maureen Linden from Georgia Tech’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

“Consumers should listen to their pediatricians and other experts and follow their advice. Pediatricians may have available samples they can give out,” said Besedes.

They can also offer advice for alternative baby formula (to the one in shortage) which is available. Medical experts are strongly advising against diluting formula or trying to recreate it at home which could cause long-lasting damage.

“We may see a rise in the rate of developmental disabilities in the age group that is presently reliant on formula – those presently six months or less,” says Linden.

Nutrition is the most important thing in an infant’s life. It’s the number one priority – making sure we are feeding them and they are developing,” explained Bullinger.

That’s why infants often get so many checkups – to make sure they are growing and gaining weight. Proper nutrition is critical for that to happen.

In the meantime, consumers can take their own action. White says it’s worth trying to buy online or shopping around at different stores.

The federal government has relaxed regulations for SNAP and WIC recipients to be able to get products with increased flexibility.

The White House has also invoked the Defense Production Act which is aimed to help manufacturers ramp up output quickly.

“Those companies will have first dibs at materials and ingredients that are needed to make formula,” said Bullinger.

“This shortage should be temporary, as demand settles, and supply is replenished from the reopened Abbott plant and FDA-approved imports,” says White.

Regardless, Georgia Tech experts have said we should have seen this coming and could have been better prepared and quicker to act – particularly for the sake of the youngest among us.

“The FDA, Biden’s administration, and baby formula manufacturers have been slow in taking actions during the past few months to prevent that. This crisis could have been prevented by timely actions,” said Rahmani.

“Infants always get the short end of the stick. They can’t speak for themselves,” said Bullinger.

Experts in this story:

Tibor Besedes

Wendy White

Lindsay Rose Bullinger

Maureen Linden

Morvarid Rahmani, associate professor, Operations Management Scheller College of Business

Summary sentence

Georgia Tech experts explain how we got here and how long this shortage could last

Summary

Georgia Tech experts explain how we got here and how long this shortage could last.

Dateline

Fri, 05/27/2022 - 12:00

snorris@gatech.edu

Contact

Steven Norris
Director, Media Relations and Social Media
Georgia Tech Institute Communications

Location

Atlanta, GA

Associated importer

Keywords

baby formula

experts

shortage

Supply Chain

Expert

News

update

formula

infants

children

production

manufacturing

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Sturgis

abbott

similiac

enfamil

newborns

nutritiiono

WIC

SNAP

Georgia

atlanta

News room topics

Business and Economic Development

Health and Medicine

Core research areas

Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics

Mercury ID

658564

Source updated

Fri, 05/27/2022 - 13:29

The Future of 5G+ Infrastructure Could be Built Tile by Tile

bwaye3 — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 15:15:28 +0000

The Future of 5G+ Infrastructure Could be Built Tile by Tile bwaye3 Mon, 04/04/2022 - 11:15

5G+ (5G/Beyond 5G) is the fastest-growing segment and the only significant opportunity for investment growth in the wireless network infrastructure market, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. But currently 5G+ technologies rely on large antenna arrays that are typically bulky and come only in very limited sizes, making them difficult to transport and expensive to customize.

Researchers from Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering have developed a novel and flexible solution to address the problem. Their additively manufactured tile-based approach can construct on-demand, massively scalable arrays of 5G+ (5G/Beyond 5G)‐enabled smart skins with the potential to enable intelligence on nearly any surface or object. The study, recently published in Scientific Reports, describes the approach, which is not only much easier to scale and customize than current practices, but features no performance degradation whenever flexed or scaled to a very large number of tiles.

“Typically, there are a lot of smaller wireless network systems working together, but they are not scalable. With the current techniques, you can’t increase, decrease, or direct bandwidth, especially for very large areas,” said Manos Tentzeris, Ken Byers Professor in Flexible Electronics in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Being able to utilize and scale this novel tile-based approach makes this possible.”

Tentzeris says his team’s modular application equipped with 5G+ capability has the potential for immediate, large-scale impact as the telecommunications industry continues to rapidly transition to standards for faster, higher capacity, and lower latency communications.

BUILDING THE TILES

In Georgia Tech’s new approach, flexible and additively manufactured tiles are assembled onto a single, flexible underlying layer. This allows tile arrays to be attached to a multitude of surfaces. The architecture also allows for very large 5G+ phased/electronically steerable antenna array networks to be installed on-the-fly. According to Tentzeris, attaching a tile array to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is even a possibility to surge broadband capacity in low coverage areas.

In the study, the team fabricated a proof-of-concept, flexible 5×5-centimeter tile array and wrapped it around a 3.5-centimeter radius curvature. Each tile includes an antenna subarray and an integrated, beamforming integrated circuit on an underlying tiling layer to create a smart skin that can seamlessly interconnect the tiles into very large antenna arrays and massive multiple-input multiple-outputs (MIMOs) — the practice of housing two or more antennas within a single wireless device. Tile-based array architectures on rigid surfaces with single antenna elements have been researched before, but do not include the modularity, additive manufacturability, or flexible implementation of the Georgia Tech design.

The proposed modular tile approach means tiles of identical sizes can be manufactured in large quantities and are easily replaceable, reducing the cost of customization and repairs. Essentially, this approach combines removable elements, modularity, massive scalability, low cost, and flexibility into one system.

5G+ IS JUST THE BEGINNING

While the tiling architecture has demonstrated the ability to greatly enhance 5G+ technologies, its combination of flexible and conformal capabilities has the potential to be applied in numerous different environments, the Georgia Tech team says.

“The shape and features of each tile scale can be singular and can accommodate different frequency bands and power levels,” said Tentzeris. “One could have communications capabilities, another sensing capabilities, and another could be an energy harvester tile for solar, thermal, or ambient RF energy. The application of the tile framework is not limited to communications.”

Internet of Things, virtual reality, as well as smart manufacturing/Industry 4.0 — a technology-driven approach that utilizes internet-connected “intelligent” machinery to monitor and fully automate the production process — are additional areas of application the team is excited to explore.

“The tile-architecture’s mass scalability makes its applications particularly diverse and virtually ubiquitous. From structures the size of dams and buildings, to machinery or cars, down to individual health-monitoring wearables,” said Tentzeris. “We’re moving in a direction where everything will be covered in some type of a wireless conformal smart skin encompassing electronically steerable antenna arrays of widely diverse sizes that will allow for effective monitoring.”

The team now looks forward to testing the approach outside the lab on large, real-world structures. They are currently working on the fabrication of much larger, fully inkjet-printed tile arrays (256+ elements) that will be presented at the upcoming International Microwave Symposium (IEEE IMS 2022) – the flagship IEEE conference in RF and microwave engineering. The IMS presentation will introduce a new tile-based large-area architecture version that will allow assembly of customizable tile arrays in a rapid and low-cost fashion for numerous conformal platforms and 5G+ enabled applications.

****

The authors declare no competing interests.

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

CITATIONS: He, X., Cui, Y. & Tentzeris, M.M. Tile-based massively scalable MIMO and phased arrays for 5G/B5G-enabled smart skins and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. Sci Rep 12, 2741 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-06096-9

K.Hu, G.S.V.Angulo, Y.Cui and M.M.Tentzeris, “Flexible and Scalable Additively Manufactured Tile-Based Phased Arrays for Satellite Communications and 5G mmWave Applications,” accepted for presentation at IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) 2022, Denver, CO, June 2022.

Summary sentence

Manos Tentzeris and his team of Georgia Tech researchers flex their novel 5G+‐enabled massively scalable tile arrays

Dateline

Tue, 03/29/2022 - 12:00

dwatson@ece.gatech.edu

Contact

Dan Watson
dwatson@ece.gatech.edu

Location

Atlanta, GA

Associated importer

Keywords

Manos Tentzeris

5G+ technologies

Tile-based phased arrays

MIMO

intelligent surfaces

go-ien

go-researchnews

News room topics

Science and Technology

Core research areas

Electronics and Nanotechnology

Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure

Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics

Materials

Mercury ID

656785

Source updated

Fri, 04/01/2022 - 15:17

Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics

Georgia Tech Part of $5 Million Grant-Funded Center to Advance Robotics in Poultry Processing

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Executive Director Selected at Georgia Tech’s Manufacturing Institute

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A break in the baby formula supply chain

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The Future of 5G+ Infrastructure Could be Built Tile by Tile

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