The Up-Skill project, ‘Up-skilling for Industry 5.0 Roll-out’, aims to deepen our understanding of how industrial and manufacturing businesses can maximise the benefits of human-machine collaboration. It specifically examines the impact of introducing AI, robotics, and intelligent production technologies into organisations, exploring how these advancements reshape working practices, skill requirements, and employee interactions.
Through ethnographic studies, the project also analyses broader organisational and social changes, providing insights into how companies can effectively adopt and integrate these technologies.
In this article, we speak with Kandarp Amin, a specialist at TWI with over six years of experience in brazing, diffusion bonding, wire bonding, and robotics adoption in manufacturing. He shares his expertise on robotic brazing and the evolving role of automation in industrial processes.
Why did you join the Up-Skill project?
TWI has joined the Up-Skill project because of our interest in improving the future digital and robotic workspace, thus ensuring manufacturing techniques align with industrial requirements whilst maintaining high quality joints.
How are human-automation challenges related to the core values of Industry 5.0 and expectations of the EU?
Industry faces continuing pressure to achieve more with less by using cost effective and sustainable resources. Up-Skill takes this premise and builds in the human contribution by considering Industry 5.0 and specifically, in this case, considering robot or cobot (cooperative robot) transitions toward fostering a harmonious interaction between the human and cobot working processes.
The benefits of cobots include high accuracy, repeatability and safety, allowing close human/machine interaction and exact assistive production efficiencies, in terms of load-carrying, product placement and reducing repetitive functions for operators.
How is your experience in R&D and engineering informing your current work within Up-Skill?
My experience of working within a technologically advanced research environment with particular reference to next generation mobile telephony, their influence on industrial robotics and supporting equipment has been directly transferable into Up-Skill. I’m supporting the project with robotic set up; our application uses cobots to deposit braze paste ready for components to be brazed using a vacuum furnace; but other processing is also possible.
What is your vision for the project and how that will contribute to the project outcomes.
Robots and cobots are programmed to follow a set of commands. This means that a pathway is created for the cobot to follow, which may also include other operations such as switching of vacuum systems, applying adhesive, polishing, spraying or welding, etc. The pathway could be as simple as a straight line but could be as complex as following multiple compound curves, an aircraft wing for example, and performing several operations en-route. Therefore, the level of programming is complex and takes significant time to trial and hone.
How do you hope TWI will benefit from participating in the project and its outcomes?
We aim to show that a toolpath incorporated in the original CAD can be automatically exported to the cobot and converted into a cobot toolpath program.
The possibility of exporting toolpath data really advances the ease with which toolpath planning can be undertaken. Cobots will be able to undertake much more complex paths, and build in corrective re-referencing, developing stability and accuracy improvements.
The use-case for our application particularly addresses vacuum brazing. The highly automated and accurately controlled dispensing of braze paste means much more complex structures can be undertaken with high repeatability.
Does TWI have aspirations to participate in future funded programmes?
As a research and technology organisation (RTO) we continuously aspire to drive industrial advancement for the benefit of our member companies. These companies provide routes to market for technologies developed.
We aim to keep up to date by participation in further research opportunities and would consider other brazing related investigations - whether by furnace, flame, induction or other resistance options - this also includes the relative automation of the process or assembly of the production parts.