Outlook Magazine - Fall 2024

Harnessing the Power of AI

to leverage university exper tise. It will provide the bridge between the Manufacturing Outreach Center and academic departments to bring applied research; modern technical methods; and laboratory, fab rication and testing services directly to private industry. UW-Stout faculty have exper tise in automation, AI/machine learning, robotics, additive manufacturing, plastics engi neering, packaging, industrial design, fabrication and mate rial properties and testing. The center’s director will be Pro fessor David Ding, who serves on Gov. Tony Evers’ Task Force on Workforce and Artificial Intelligence. How often do we think about the structures inside the prod ucts we use? Anne Schmitz has thought about it plenty while conducting sustainable manufacturing research on mesostructures, or 3D-printed internal lattices that absorb energy and reduce material use. She created a computer model that predicts how the struc tures compress, allowing for design optimization without extensive testing. Her latest research uses AI to fine-tune Enhancing Material Resilience

mesostructure design to poten tially make better products, such as airless tires or bike hel mets with impact-absorbing foam. She conducted the research thanks to the 2021-24 Founda tion’s Fulton and Edna Holtby Manufacturing Engineering Chair award.

Demystifying Prion Diseases

Prion diseases are deadly, and there’s no cure. They include Creutzfeldt-Jacob and mad cow disease, which is transmissible to humans through infected beef. Ava Cinealis (’24) , mentored by Professor Jen Grant, con ducted research on the protein structures of prion diseases. The disease occurs when pro teins develop plaque and mis fold, causing a chain reaction of cell death. Part of Cinealis’ research was conducted using AI software called AlphaFold. “We’re look ing into ways to predict how likely a prion would be to mis fold,” Cinealis said. “There’s still so much to know, but I felt like I was doing valuable work.”

Detecting Rotten Fruit

Spoiled fruit reaching grocery stores — they lose 8% to 10% or more a year — could be a thing of the past if Yuan Xing’s research proves successful. He is developing an automated guided vehicle that would bring fruit in a warehouse to a vision sensor housing a hyper spectral camera. An image of the fruit would be analyzed by an AI algorithm to determine freshness, including presence of bacteria. The vehi cle then would separate the fresh fruit for packaging. Xing received three statewide grants to develop the small scale, spider-like robotic vehi cle, which he demonstrated when Gov. Tony Evers visited campus in spring 2024.

Solutions for Manufacturers

Small and midsize manufac turers in Wisconsin and Min nesota have a new resource — and ally — in their quest for success: UW-Stout’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence. CAM-AI was created by the Office of Corporate Relations and Economic Engagement

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University of Wisconsin-Stout