TWIN-IT-ROMANS

Aim:

The aim of this project is improving the widening country’s (Türkiye) excellence capacity in the robotic manufacturing domain by matching a prominent institute from Türkiye, Izmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH), and its researchers with internationally-leading counterparts at the EU level. By formulating a common research topic, joint publications and workshops are planned to raise the reputation, research profile and attractiveness of IZTECH, its researchers and staff, (2) meetings, summer school and demonstration events will be organized to strengthened research management capacities and administrative skills of the staff, and (3) expert visits, research & innovation collaboration and short-term visits will improve creativity and mobility of IZTECH scientists.   

When producing mechanical parts, several methods of manufacturing are used, such as machining, additive manufacturing, laser cutting or welding. These manufactured parts are investigated for their manufacturing tolerances upon production via quality control systems. At the current state of the art, one production machine can only perform its designated process. Additionally, these machines are large and bulky computer numerical control (CNC) systems, and they are heavy and non-portable with high investment costs. For these reasons, small investors or start-ups cannot invest in these machines, or can invest in only one type of manufacturing machine.   

According to the abovementioned shortcomings, the research goal of this project is defined as to develop a lightweight, portable and low-cost manufacturing cell that can perform precise manufacturing and quality control. This challenge can only be solved by the collaborative work of interdisciplinary partners. Inspired by this action, IZTECH has been firmly committed to developing and promoting enabling technologies for robotic and manufacturing systems. However, IZTECH could not fully exploit its technological and innovation potential in this field due to limited resources in research and project management. There is a clear need for concrete partnership between IZTECH and internationally leading counterparts to bring this potential into play, and thus to spread scientific excellence in robotics and manufacturing systems over the European Research Area and industry. In this way, Türkiye’s excellence capacity and resources can be improved, and the research and innovation gap between Türkiye and the European Union can be closed in this specific area. As a consequence of this project, IZTECH’s reputation and capacity to carry out advanced research are expected to grow due to this collaboration. Our long-term goal with this collaborative robot powered manufacturing cell is to improve the manipulation capabilities of robotic manipulators for their seamless integration into the target application areas, thus increasing the EU’s competitiveness and sustainability in manufacturing sectors.