AUGMANITY

Augmented Humanity

Synthesis:

We live in an age of unprecedent challenges, uncertainty and change, or as sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman once said, "...times are liquid, because, as water, everything changes...". So the challenge is how to move forward in a liquid economy and society: On one hand there are studies showing that industry will lose workplaces by automation, on the other hand this seems to contradict a new paradigm where:

a) products will be more and more customized to the end customer, on a built to order basis which, to some extent, is the opposite of mass automated production;

b) work intensive industries, especially in low cost countries as Portugal, strive to keep their investment levels low improving their processes in such way that still assures their competitiveness Additionally, in developed countries we are assisting to ageing population, including Portugal, meaning younger people will be harder to hire and retain and, as a direct impact, factories will have to assure that older employees are able to keep “fit” for the future, both physically, by adapting new work support/wearables and functionally, by adapting to new technologies to keep efficient in their daily tasks.

a) that make industry workplaces more attractive in future (eg: by providing intelligent and interactive wearables for the workforce);

b) optimizing work tasks definition in such way that minimizes or eliminates health problems from intensive hard work, by improved ergonomic (eg: by developing external aid systems like exoskeletons adapted to the relevant activities);

c) reducing monotonous activities or eliminating associate frustration associated with waste activities (eg: by camera monitoring/anticipation of logistic deliveries traffic congestion, we can optimize the routes assuring the logistic operator has an optimized route, or that this can be done automatically);

d) developing appropriate technology that allows existing workforce to be prepared for the new digitalization paradigm (eg: Augmented & Mixed Reality will improve the way our plant service technicians operate/troubleshoot);

e) using smart tools to measure or even promote tailored associate engagement (eg: HR platforms that use different datasources combined to measure such indicators);

f) Taking best advantage of the integration of the cyber physical systems and ultra-connectivity within the industrial value chain (eg: by using 5G technology for connecting from sensor networks to machines in assembly lines);

g) All this should be developed having in mind the energy efficiency that allows to have smart/green factories in the future The project Augmanity aims these societal challenges developing technology and tools that address concrete problems that we see nowadays and that will become more apparent in future.

The project is expected to leverage its results in multiple sectors, through a coordinated strategy between industrial partners and research centres, with the generated knowledge being exploited by means of technology creation, dissemination, transfer utilization and incorporation activities based on three pillars: science and technological development; internalization of knowledge and technology by technology-takers; and utilization of knowledge and technology by potential end users.

Augmanity is structured in six PPS (Product, Process, Service) in order to answer to the challenges and objectives of the project:

PPS1 - Ergonomics and Robotics

PPS2 - Big Data and Predictive Analytics for i4.0

PPS3 - Industrial Internet of Things and connectivity

PPS4 - Artificial vision & Augmented Reality

PPS5 - HR 4.0: Tools for better and healthier workers in i4.0 environments

PPS6 - Project Management

Bosch Termotecnologia, S.A. (project leader); Associação Fraunhofer Portugal Research; CENTITVC – Centro de Nanotecnologia e Materiais Técnicos, Funcionais e Inteligentes; Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto; Altice Labs, S.A.; Ground Control Studios, Lda; Universidade de Aveiro; Associação para o Pólo das Tecnologias de Informação, Comunicação e Eletrónica TICE.PT; EPL - Soluções Industriais, Lda.; ICC – Indústrias e Comércio de Calçado, S.A.; Associação CCG/ZGDV Centro Computação Gráfica; OLI - Sistemas Sanitários, S.A.; Globaltronic, Electrónica e Telecomunicações AS; Bosch Security Systems Sistemas de Segurança, S.A.; Instituto de Telecomunicações; ATENA – Automação Industrial, LDA; Ikea Industry Portugal, S.A.; Huawei Tech. Portugal Tecnologias de Informação, Lda; AAPICO Maia, S.A.; Critical Manufacturing, S.A.; Microplásticos, S.A.

Project Number: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046103 | LISBOA-01-0247-FEDER-046103

European Union Financial Support: FEDER - 5.199.397,13 €

Total Eligible Cost: 8.184.504,14 €

Approval Date: 09-06-2020

End Date: 30-06-2023

Consult the project's Spec Sheet here:

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