Chatty factories
A vision for the future of product design and manufacture with IoT
P. Burnap (Cardiff University)
D. Branson (University of Nottingham)
D. Murray-Rust (The University of Edinburgh)
J. Preston (University of Essex)
D. Richards (Lancaster University)
D. Burnett (Lancaster University)
N. Edwards (Cardiff University)
R. Firth (University of Essex)
K. Gorkovenko (The University of Edinburgh)
M. A. Khanesar (University of Nottingham)
M. Lakoju (Cardiff University)
T. Smith (University of Nottingham)
J. Thorp (Lancaster University)
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Abstract
Chatty Factories is a three-year investment by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through its programme for New Industrial Systems. The project explores the transformative potential of placing IoT-enabled data driven systems at the core of design and manufacturing processes. The research focuses on the opportunity to collect data from IoT-enabled sensors embedded in products during real-time use by consumers, explores how that data might be immediately transferred into usable information to inform design, and considers what characteristics of the manufacturing environment might optimise the response to such data. The project also considers implications arising for skills development in the education sector as well as ethics in manufacturing. In this paper we provide a vision for future “Chatty Factories”.