Principal investigator: Li Bai
University: Temple University
Industry partner: Demco Automation
Redesigning robotic manufacturing cells is traditionally time-intensive, especially when customer-driven changes require coordinated updates across mechanical layouts, sensors, controls, safety logic, and documentation. This Temple University-led project, in collaboration with Demco, will create and validate an AI-assisted framework to streamline these design/redesign processes, reducing engineering time while improving consistency and traceability. Grant funding will support an embedded undergraduate researcher working within a faculty-supervised, industry-aligned workflow using real-world change requests. AI-driven tools will automate sensor integration, programmable logic controller updates, and documentation generation, with results verified by Demco engineers. Deliverables include a repeatable course module and a scalable university-industry collaboration model that strengthens Pennsylvania’s advanced manufacturing workforce and demonstrates measurable reductions in design and redesign effort for industrial automation systems.