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One of the characteristic features of the next-generation of Industry 4.0 is human-centricity, which in turn includes two technological advancements: Artificial Intelligence and the Industrial Metaverse. In this work, we assess the impact that AI played on the advancement of three technologies that emerged to be cornerstones in the fourth generation of industry: intelligent industrial robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles, and additive manufacturing. Despite the significant improvement that AI and the industrial metaverse can offer, the incorporation of many AI-enabled and Metaverse-based technologies remains under the expectations. Safety continues to be a strong factor that limits the expansion of intelligent industrial robotics and drones, whilst Cybersecurity is effectively a major limiting factor for the advance of the industrial metaverse and the integration of blockchains. However, most research works agree that the lack of the skilled workforce will no-arguably be the decisive factor that limits the incorporation of these technologies in industry. Therefore, long-term planning and training programs are needed to counter the upcoming shortage in the skilled workforce.

 

Mechatronics for Technologists and Technicians was recognized as an occupation by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2019 and was given the code 49-2094.00. In 2022 the occupation was migrated to the code 17-3024.00 and titled "Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians". Several organizations offer certifications in the mechatronics occupation that we list here. The major challenge that faces mechatronics education is the decline in the job market that is projected to stand at -2 % over the next decade for holders of bachelor’s or lower degrees. This is attributed to the post-pandemic remote work trend and the hard-hit manufacturing industry during the pandemic. This decline is coupled with an aggressive growth in the job market for holders of graduate degrees (standing at over 11% growth) due to the growing demand in research and innovation and engineering training. 

In this work we investigate the effectiveness of two train-the-trainer workshops on intelligent industrial robotics. The two workshops, which took place in summer 2021 in Tennessee and Alabama, were the first of a series of six workshops. A total of 32 persons applied to the two summer workshops from 10 states, of whom 15 attended and successfully completed the workshops. Evaluation results show that the participants’ knowledge on industrial robotics significantly improved after the workshops, and the vast majority indicated that the training will be used in their home institutions. The major challenge faced during the workshops was the spread of the delta variant of CoVid-19 at the time the workshops were scheduled to take place, and the wide diversity of the educational background of participants. 

In this work we investigate the electrical properties of phospholipid bilayer membranes (LBMs) formed from phosphatidylserine by analyzing two experimental setups. The Electrochemical Impedance Spectra (EIS) of phosphatidylserine show that a lipid bilayer membrane formed from this phospholipid has an average specific electrical resistance of 3.466 k Ω.cm 2 and an average capacitance of 0.385 µF/cm 2 . Some of the major factors that affect the LBM resistance include electroporation, the method of deposition, and the surface tension in microchannels for supported LBMs. Therefore, wide apertures remain the most accurate method for supporting LBMs. 

Contact angle measurement is a commonly used technique to measure the wettability of a solid surface The technique is highly susceptible to error when conducted by a human operator In this project, the experiment is robotized to increase accuracy, in which the Denso COBOTTA robot is used to dispense pure liquid drops onto a variety of surfaces in order to measure the contact angle for each surface. The experiment is currently being expanded for robotized deposition of lipid bilayer membranes. 

This paper reports on how institutions collaborating on Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Smart Manufacturing (SM) have been able to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and be able to modify their planned activities in 2020 in an effort to continue delivering quality training and education to educators across the country. The pandemic made it impossible to offer the usual on-ground workshops to STEM educators and industrial practitioners. As a workaround, the project teams offered instructional delivery via Zoom and Microsoft Teams while also providing distance learning tools online. The best practices of the delivery and pros/cons of the operations will be presented with the feedback received from the participants. 

Over the years, the ability of production plants to operate in a faster and more efficient manner has consistently grown and expanded as technology has further developed. This growth is a result of the constantly steady advances of industrial robotics. In 2016, for the first time, the electronics industry exceeded the automotive industry in demand for industrial robotics in the Asian markets of China, Japan, and Korea. Worldwide, the electronics sector’s share of the robotics market rose steadily to 32% in 2017, almost equal to the automotive sector (33%) [1]. This change indicates that sectors that have not been historical markets for industrial robotics, are now adapting to this robotics revolution. Improvements in Industrial robotics for Energy Efficiency [2]: 1) Improvements in Hardware Selection: such as an improved selection of the robotic systems, new mechanical components that reduce energy use, being able to be more compact, and finding different usages of a robot’s movement. 2) Improvements in Software 3) Improvements in both hardware and Software. 

Today, the current trends of manufacturing are towards the adaptation and implementation of smart manufacturing, which is a new initiative to turn the traditional factories into profitable innovation facilities. However, the concept and technologies are still in a state of infancy, since many manufacturers around the world are not fully knowledgeable about the benefits of smart manufacturing compared to their current practices. This article reviews several aspects of smart manufacturing and introduces its advantages in terms of energy-saving and production efficiency. This article also points out that some areas need further research so that smart manufacturing can be shaped better. 

In this paper we present recent advances, current and future market trends in industrial robotics. Artificial Intelligence has evolved as the main feature to characterize Industry 4.0, Next-generation robotics utilize this feature to perform tasks collaboratively, as opposed to the currently deployed industrial robots, which were designed mainly for automation, isolated in cages, and highly-controlled environments. Current data show that China takes the lead in the industrial robotics market with 48% of the top-ten market in 2019. The electronics sector took the lead in robot-deployment in East Asia, and is continuously increasing in deploying industrial robotics in other parts of the world. Studies on the challenges associated with this technology, show that the main concern is the lack of trained labor to handle the technologies in next generation industrial robotics. 

In this project, the following products were produced as a result of this project: Smart Manufacturing training workshops Online Educational modules on Smart Manufacturing Industrial speaker short talks that present the State-of-the-art Industrial Applications Peer-reviewed articles were produced. High school and Middle School visits In the hands-on training, we demonstrated the use of code-programmed drones in technical education and Smart Manufacturing (SM). Unmanned aerial and ground vehicle technologies are increasingly finding applications in industrial settings. Training on SM is achieved by using coded drones, with educational modules and a database of technologies and their applications.