Electrical Engineering

Research > Faculty Projects

EFRI-ARESCI: Controlling the Autonomously Reconfiguring Stochastic Factory

Principal Investigator
Eric Klavins

Sponsor(s)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Flow-
through to National Science Foundation)

Award Period
01/01/2008 - 12/31/2011

Abstract
This collaborative project proposes to improve our understanding of robustness networked systems by exploring the idea of an autonomously reconfiguring stochastic factory. The PIs envision this factory as a broad concept: a process with built-in adaptation to demand as well as availability of raw materials and supplies chains in the form of computational processes capable of reconfiguration. The key attributes of such processes are autonomy, distribution of sensing, control, and possibly actuation, stochastic behavior, and adaptation. Manufacturing, construction, and distributed computing processes can be formalated in this proposed framework, leading to a generic study of autonomy, adaptation, and programmability of systems to provide robustness (to changes in intent and supplies), a stability (of structures and processes), and effective performance.

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