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Blogs and Videos

man operating a coordinate measuring machine

Michael Brundage using a coordinate-measurement machine in the Manufacturing Systems Integration Laboratory, a component of the Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) Test Bed.

Credit: Mark Esser/NIST

Below our staff describe some key aspects of our work through blogs and videos.

See our Highlights of Our Work page for SID products that you can use, our Publications page for all the details, and our Programs page for more information on what is coming.

Interested in working with us? There are plenty of opportunities available for everyone from early career scientists to highly experienced researchers, inside and outside of the US. 

 

 

 


Blogs

A ground-mounted solar panel has a spiderweb crack in the lower left-hand corner.
Credit: nostal6ie/Shutterstock

We Need a Second Earth to Support Our Current Consumption. We Can Do Better if We Think ‘Circular.’


Nehika Mathur
If we’re going to secure a sustainable future on the only planet we have to live on, we must transition to a circular economy. The circular economy aims to reduce our reliance on virgin ecological resources by keeping materials in use indefinitely.

Illustration has "TLP" on a computer screen linked to a robot arm, a human brain, gears and other symbols.
Credit: N. Hanacek/NIST

Teaching Computers to Read ‘Industry Lingo’ — Technical vs. Natural Language Processing

October 26, 2022
Michael Sharp
Industry and businesses have long been known to have their own specialized jargon. Technical language processing, or TLP, involves using computers for capturing, understanding and translating jargon for other users.

intermeshed gears. They have the words "society", "sustainability", "economy" and "environment" written on them.
Credit: EtiAmmos/shutterstock.com

Sustainable Manufacturing Is Smart Manufacturing

October 2, 2020
KC Morris
As our society has evolved, we have learned better ways to manufacture and are able to create an amazing variety of products. But providing these goods is not without side effects to the environment, and care is needed to manage the impacts of our production systems.

an android in a factory carrying a tablet computer
Credit: Phonlamai Photo/shutterstock.com

A.I. for Smarter Factories: The World of Industrial Artificial Intelligence

September 2, 2020
Michael Sharp
Computer assistants and AIs perform an ever-growing range of tasks that are broadly intended to improve our quality of life. This extends to industry as well.

Alicia, Bob, Carrie and Dave working in a factory equipped with augmented reality. Hazards and detours are shown as Carrie would see them through her augmented reality headset. Machines display digital info. Bob checks a machine in error. Alicia watches the scene on her computer screen seeing the same digital information on her screen.
Credit: N. Hanacek/NIST

Industrial XR: Fulfilling Human Potential in Smart Factories

July 14, 2020
Bill Bernstein, Teodor Vernica
How do we present the right information at the right time about machines to people? And, how can we do it all safely?

This is a photo of a man in an augmented reality headset looking at the hologram of an IED.

Mixing and Matching Standards to Ease AR Integration within Factories

April 14, 2020
Bill Bernstein
Today, integrating industrial Augmented Reality (AR) to visualize manufacturing models is still largely a pipedream. Using standards could ease the challenges of integration, but experience with tying them all together in a practical solution is severely lacking.  

a latex gloved hand holds a syringe that has been loaded with medicine
Credit: Numstocker/shutterstock.com

Manufacturing Standards for Biopharmaceuticals

January 28, 2020
Sheng Lin-GibsonVijay Srinivasan
Biopharmaceuticals are manufactured from living organisms or contain living organisms that have been genetically engineered to prevent or treat diseases. Read a conversation with SID's division chief and a member of the Material Measurement Lab on NIST's role in this growing field.

man operating a coordinate measuring machine
Credit: Mark Esser/NIST

When a Manufacturer Asks ‘How Do We Get Smart?’

October 4, 2019
Mike Brundage
Manufacturers are joining the "smart manufacturing" movement, but many don't know where to start.

graphic showing how standardized data will connect farmers, inspectors, manufacturers, shippers, and ultimately consumers to ensure the freshest, most high quality food possible.
Credit: Natasha Hanacek/NIST

Getting Food on Our Tables From the U.S. and Around the World, Safely and Less Wastefully

November 13, 2019
Nenad Ivezic
Moving food from farm to table nowadays is not without its challenges, but there are some outstanding developments that are starting to help address these safety and waste issues.

Stock ontology
Credit: mcmurryjulie

Working Towards an Industrial Ontology Foundry to Facilitate Interoperability

March 16, 2017
KC MorrisSerm Kulvatunyou
Generally, ontologies serve the purpose of mediating the semantics of information between different applications. NIST created a foundry to create and store community-vetted ontologies suitable for industrial needs.

Factory Assembly of Car
Photo credit:  CC BY 2.0

The Smart Factory Shifts from Reactive to Predictive – An ASME and NIST Workshop

November 15, 2017
Mike Brundage, Brian Weiss
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, hosted a “Workshop on Advanced Monitoring, Diagnostic, and Prognostic Technologies”, on June 8-9, 2017, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

Additive Manufacturing
Credit: Pixabay - lppicture

Smart Manufacturing Isn’t So Smart Without Standards

March 2, 2016
KC Morris, Simon Frechette, Yan Lu
The next generation of manufacturing technologies must enhance the manufacturer’s ability to respond to information quickly and efficiently, but they in turn rely on the effective information flow and system responsiveness that only standards can provide across multiple vendor solutions in the product value chain.

 


Videos

 

A talk from SID's Bill Bernstein, leader of the Extended Digital Thread Project, on his work to improve industrial XR standards.
Interview with KC Morris
January, 2021: How small manufacturers can extract more value from standardization & digitalization. Interview with KC Morris by Lucian Fogoros of IIoT-World.
Credit: Lucian Fogoros

 

November 14, 2020: A presentation from SID's Bill Bernstein recapping the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.
September 10, 2020: A celebration of the virtual presentations delivered by SID employees and associates over the 2020 technical conference season. The NIST SID 2020 Summer Showcase features work related to Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Model-Based Enterprise.

 

July 30, 2020: Teodor Vernica, Research Associate at SID, presents on ASME Computers in Engineering (CIE) Virtual Environment Systems (VES).
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December 22, 2015: What exactly does an engineer at NIST do? SID's Moneer Helu talks about his job and the benefits of working at NIST.  



 
Digital Thread Discussion
Digital Thread Discussion
October 5, 2015: Discussion about NIST's Smart Manufacturing project with partners Kevin Fischer, Rockwell Collins and Greg Sondag, Geater Machining & Manufacturing. NIST is playing a key role in “digitization” manufacturing with its Digital Thread for Smart Manufacturing project, which has helped businesses of all sizes make the most of the digital revolution.
Digital Thread in Manufacturing
Digital Thread in Manufacturing
October 2, 2015: Along the path from design to manufacture, a lot of information gets passed from computer to computer and machine to machine. Figuring out how a product’s design and manufacturing information can be authored, exchanged and processed without errors is critical.

 

Contacts

Division Chief

Created January 26, 2021, Updated July 7, 2023