Two WSU faculty members have acquired a national grant to help revolutionize the way that recycling and manufacturing is done. This grant has been given to few other universities, making WSU one of the first to take advantage of this opportunity.
The grant
The National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant was awarded to WSU for $2.9 Million. The money is to be used on a recycling project that would use recycled materials to create new, useful projects. Coined as “recyclofacturing," it has the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing playing field and shoot Wright State up as the leader in this research.
The abstract, as well as specifics on how much money was awarded, how long the program is expected to last for and more can be found on the NSF's website.
"The project looks to contribute advances in artificial intelligence, extended reality, and human-robot collaboration to transform metal recycling facilities, that focus on traditionally low-skilled tasks, into new and agile product manufacturers, helping to keep manufacturing in the US," the abstract reads.
The grant was awarded to Natasha Banerjee, who is listed as the Principal Investigator for the project, as well as Sean Banerjee, Maria Kyrarini, Seth Benzell and Paul McClure, who are all Co-Principal Investigators.
According to Sean Banerjee, WSU is one of three universities to receive the NSF grant. The other two universities are Virginia Tech and Michigan State University.
“This puts us on the same playing field as those two universities,” Sean Banerjee said.
“Recyclofacturing”
Recyclofacturing is defined as the use of old materials to manufacture new things. It is heavily involved with AI, extended reality work and human-robot collaboration, all with the objective to revolutionizing manufacturing.
The main faculty members who made this happen are the Banerjee's, Natasha and Sean. The couple are professors for the College of Computer Science and Engineering.
The Banerjee's method of recyclofacturing is technologically advanced; they will collaborate with AI and advanced technology to benefit the manufacturing industry through the use of recycled materials.
“We’re driving new research in using technology that’s Gen Z-friendly to assist recycling plant workers in refabrication,” Natasha Banerjee explained.
The goal for their project is to give recycling plants the tools to turn would-be usable materials into smaller objects, thus keeping more manufacturing in the United States as well.
Natasha continued, “What we propose is that, if large portions of those [materials] are intact and usable, workers onsite at the recycling plant can make small products from them. Why not fabricate onsite, keeping manufacturing in the U.S. and in the local community?”
The project is expected to last until May 2029. Its success will be decided based on in-depth interviews and surveys.
"The Future of Work assessment integrates qualitative interviews with workers and managers, large-scale societal survey of expectations from cyber-enabled manufacturing, quantitative assessment of demand and production costs through willingness-to-pay experiments and labor cost estimation by connecting with research plan studies on technology interaction, and projection models to inform on long-term impact of recyclofacturing," the abstract explains.
Students are thrilled at WSU’s progress when it comes to the development of this technology, including Fern Lawler, a masters student of humanities at WSU.
“Recycling is so important,” Lawler said. “I think that it is fantastic that [WSU] will have a leg up on this industry. It could be revolutionary for not only our economy, but also our environment.”
The project is actively being worked on, so it has yet to be determined how it will play out. But the research shown is encouraging for the future.
