Realization of Smart Factory with 5g Mobile Networks, Exemplified by Machining of Sapphire Substrate

The purpose of this proposal is to establish 5G terminal modules at the nontraditional machining smart factory and the FESTO smart manufacturing system located at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University, in cooperation with the Chunghwa Telecom Co. and Wistron NeWeb Co. The 5G terminal modules will connect manufacturing equipment and various sensors through an edge computing module to achieve 5G network communication. The edge computing module will be featured with information security protection. In order to establish the targeted smart factory with 5G mobile networks, the edge computing module will be integrated with the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) and human-robot collaboration (HRC). The superiority of the 5G smart factory with edge computing technique will be verified by conducting sapphire substrate machining as an example. A laser processing machine, an electro-chemical discharge machine (ECDM) and an automated optical inspection (AOI) system built in the 5G smart factory will be used to perform sapphire substrate machining. The edge computing module will collect real-time processing data and execute data preprocessing process for artificial intelligent algorithms to build a data-driven model. The model will be applied to predicting surface roughness, size and location of the workpiece, product quality, etc. Real-time machine monitoring will be developed through an intelligent wearable device to improve product yield and quality. An AMR system cooperated with LIDAR sensors and KINECT modules will be built to develop several techniques, such as ultra-wideband communication, time of flight, positioning correction, virtual scene establishment, and 3D-environment perception, for establishing collision avoidance, HRC, and automated logistics management. The first-year goal is to set up the fundamental infrastructure required for the 5G smart factory. In the second year, relevant techniques will be developed to optimize the processing parameters and improve the machining quality through on-line, real-time control. The third-year, final goal is to establish a production line with heterogeneous equipment integrated with AMR and HRC in the planned smart factory. It is hoped the implement of this project will be beneficial to the development of 5G intelligent automation industry in Taiwan.