UW Researchers NASA Grant is for Machine Learning Materials, Manufacturing Methods for Space

Three University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science professors have been awarded a $750,000 NASA grant to lead a team of researchers in developing machine learning materials and manufacturing methods for space.

The team is composed of Patrick Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Assistant Professors Lars Kotthoff, in computer science, and Dilpuneet Aidhy, in mechanical and energy systems engineering.

The three-year grant for their project, titled “Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing of Flexible Electronics,” was funded through NASA’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

“Crucial for space exploration is developing flexible electronics and in-space manufacturing,” Johnson says. “The limitations to the kind of objects that can be made in space with additive manufacturing techniques is an important and vexing problem, and NASA has put a high priority on identifying solutions to this challenge.”

According to Johnson, game changing developments from NASA partner Made In Space’s VULCAN, a 3D printer that will be able to use metals and polymers for additive manufacturing, and Archinaut, a system to manufacture large-scale parts that cannot be transported into space, will allow the manufacturing of parts required for space exploration. Those include heat shields and antennae, in space, during a mission.

However, while both methods hold a lot of promise, they come with a number of drawbacks, the researchers say.

“Made In Space’s approach cannot manufacture electronics from scratch, but only integrate existing components,” Johnson says. “Inkjet printing relies on different materials, namely different inks and the substrates, to be available. The size of the manufactured circuit is limited to the size of the inkjet printer. Both techniques require relatively large amounts of power over relatively long periods of time to operate.”

Johnson’s team, in the Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing (AIM) center in the UW College of Engineering and Applied Science, has developed a complementary technique that does not suffer from these drawbacks.

“Our team is researching thin films of a single material that can be treated with a low-power laser to manufacture circuits and replace or upgrade devices,” he says. “This technique can be used to create submicron-scale conductive lines in carbon materials of arbitrary dimensions and consumes less power than 3D and inkjet printing techniques.”

The researchers’ efforts look to merge synergistic expertise in materials development and computer science for the development of powerful methods to design and model the behavior of advanced materials and manufacture of advanced devices.

Johnson says the grant will continue to foster interdisciplinary research among chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science, giving UW undergraduate and graduate students opportunities in applying machine learning to advance laser manufacturing and computational materials science research.

“The grant enables the production of advanced materials and training of machine learning scientists in advanced manufacturing processes, which is especially important in the current economic climate,” he adds. “This grant will help facilitate Wyoming’s transition to a high-tech state and attract investment beyond its traditional industries.”

Cameron Wright, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, praises Johnson and his colleagues for securing the NASA grant.

“This project will have direct applicability to the future of NASA’s space exploration, and support both our educational mission and economic development in Wyoming. It’s really a win-win,” Wright says.

Johnson’s team of collaborators for the project -- besides Kotthoff and Aidhy -- include Meyya Meyyappan, chief scientist for exploration technology, and Jessica Koehne, a scientist in the Center for Nanotechnology, both at the NASA Ames Research Center.

For more information about the “Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing of Flexible Electronics” grant or UW’s AIM center, email Johnson at pjohns27@uwyo.edu or Kotthoff at larsko@uwyo.edu.