47298 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: The Bayh-Dole Act 

(35 U.S.C. 18) and its implementing 

regulations (37 CFR 401). 

IV. Request for Comments 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) 

Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department, 

including whether the information will 

have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the 

accuracy of our estimate of the time and 

cost burden for this proposed collection, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) Minimize the 

reporting burden on those who are to 

respond, including the use of automated 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this ICR. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you may ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Chief Information Officer, Commerce 

Department. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18196 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

Robot Workcell Degradation 

Technology Exploration With the 

Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

National Network Consortium 

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of research consortium. 

SUMMARY: The National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST), an 

agency of the United States Department 

of Commerce, in support of efforts to 

verify and validate robot workcell 

health monitoring methods for use in 

the manufacturing industry, is 

establishing the Robot Workcell 

Degradation Technology Exploration 

with the Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership National Network 

Consortium (‘‘Consortium’’). In addition 

to supporting verification and validation 

of robot workcell health monitoring 

methods, the consortium intends to 

provide NIST with the opportunity to 

transfer technology to the U.S. 

manufacturing sector through the 

Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

(MEP) National NetworkTM. 

DATES: The Consortium’s activities will 

commence on July 23rd, 2021 

(‘‘Commencement Date’’). NIST will 

accept letters of interest from MEP 

Center teams to participate in this 

Consortium from prospective 

participants until December 1, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Completed letters of interest 

or requests for additional information 

about the Consortium can be directed 

via electronic mail to RobotCRADA@

nist.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

J’aime Maynard, CRADA Administrator, 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology’s Technology Partnerships 

Office, by mail to 100 Bureau Drive, 

Mail Stop 2200, Gaithersburg, Maryland 

20899, by electronic mail to 

Jaime.maynard@nist.gov, or by 

telephone at (301) 975–8408. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Consortium efforts are expected to yield 

practical lessons learned and guidance 

on the deployment and usage of the 

NIST-developed test methodology and 

companion sensor along with producing 

quantitative data from the test method 

and the host robot workcells. This will 

enhance NIST’s research verifying and 

validating methods to assess robot 

workcell health degradation in addition 

to accelerating technology transfer into 

the manufacturing industry. 

NIST’s Engineering Laboratory has 

developed a test method—Identification 

and Isolation of Robot Workcell 

Degradation—that has the potential to 

efficiently assess the change in accuracy 

within a robot workcell, including those 

used in manufacturing operations. The 

test method is paired with the NISTdeveloped Position Verification Sensor 

(PVS—patent pending) to yield pass/fail 

output when the test method is 

executed with the PVS in a robot 

workcell. The test method and PVS are 

designed such that the change in 

accuracy of the key insertion can be 

measured to desired tolerances. This 

capability addresses the challenge that it 

can be costly to determine if the health 

of a robot workcell has degraded before 

quality and/or productivity are 

impacted. The test method and sensor 

require verification and validation from 

industrial partners. The Manufacturing 

Extension Partnership (MEP) National 

NetworkTM, a public-private partnership 

with Centers in every U.S. state and 

Puerto Rico dedicated to serving small 

and medium-sized manufacturers, is 

uniquely positioned to enable this 

activity. 

Each pilot study will be performed at 

a MEP Center-selected manufacturing 

facility. Proof of concept studies, prior 

to individual pilot studies, may be 

conducted at an MEP Center or at a 

chosen technology integrator/builder 

facility. 

This CRADA Consortium involves the 

use of U.S. Government IP. NIST 

Invention entitled ‘‘POSITION 

VERIFICATION SENSOR WITH 

DISCRETE OUTPUT’’, US Patent 

Application 16/572,847, filed on 

September 17, 2019, will be the IP that 

is used in this collaboration. 

This Consortium has specific 

objectives including: 

(1) Pilot the test method and PVS in 

manufacturing facilities through guided 

deployments by state-based MEP Center 

teams to obtain practical feedback, 

including quantitative performance 

data, lessons learned, and deployment 

guidance, regarding the viability of the 

test method and sensor in robot 

workcells; 

(2) During each pilot study, obtain 

information regarding the 

manufacturing operations, test method, 

and sensor performance including (a) 

data from the test method and sensor 

during its usage in a robot workcell 

health testing, (b) component-level data 

from the robot(s) that are interacting 

with the sensor, (c) process-level data 

captured from the overall workcell(s) 

that include the test method/sensor, (d) 

operational configuration information of 

the robot workcell including use case 

variants (e.g., robot picks up boxes 

weighing 5 kg and 10 kg as opposed to 

picking up boxes of the same weight), 

(e) maintenance logs and activities that 

document faults and failures of the 

workcell along with specific 

maintenance that is performed, and (f) 

feedback from manufacturing personnel 

(e.g., operators, maintenance personnel, 

plant managers, etc.); 

(3) Enable MEP Center teams to 

explore the development of a service of 

the NIST test method and/or the 

commercialization of the new sensor 

technology to ultimately promote 

transfer to the manufacturing industry; 

and 

(4) Enable MEP Center teams to 

promote a capability for manufacturers/ 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 161 / Tuesday, August 24, 2021 / Notices 47299 

robot workcell end-users to detect 

degradation of process accuracy prior to 

it impacting product quality or 

operational productivity. 

There are numerous potential benefits 

to the participating MEP Center teams 

including: 

a. Acquisition of a research license of 

NIST’s PVS technology to practice the 

invention to explore its commercial 

feasibility 

b. Feedback on the deployment, 

integration, usage, and maintenance (as 

necessary) of the sensor within relevant 

operational environments to determine 

if/where/how to make the technology 

more viable for commercialization 

c. Identification of the use cases and 

scenarios that the sensor and test 

method can be reasonably deployed 

d. Acquire advanced knowledge of 

potential degradations to process 

accuracy prior to degradations 

negatively impacting product quality or 

operational productivity 

e. If the sensor became commercially 

available, this could lead to the 

development of services using the 

sensor to improve the operations and 

efficiency of small and medium 

manufacturers. 

Participation Process 

Eligibility will be determined by NIST 

based on the information provided by 

prospective participants in response to 

this notice on a first-come, first-serve 

basis. In accordance with the 

Consortium objectives, collaborators 

must be MEP Centers. Collaborator 

project teams must be entirely 

composed of MEP Centers or, if a project 

team includes non-MEP Center team 

members, the project team must be led 

by an MEP Center Collaborator. All 

participants will be required to sign the 

Cooperative Research and Development 

Agreement (CRADA) for this 

Consortium, and each participant will 

be bound to the same terms and 

conditions in consideration of 

participation in the Consortium. 

Participants will not be required to 

contribute any funds or pay any fee. 

NIST will evaluate the submitted 

responses from prospective participants 

to determine eligibility to participate in 

this Consortium. Prospective 

participants should provide a Letter of 

Interest with the following information 

to NIST’s Consortium Manager: 

(1) A description of the MEP Center 

team’s technical experience in 

integrating robot workcells and/or 

sensor technology into manufacturing 

facilities. 

(2) A description of the manufacturing 

use cases and deployments of robotic 

workcells that the MEP Center team 

would target for NIST test method and 

PVS deployment. 

(3) A description of services, if any, 

that the MEP Center team has provided 

in the domains of robotic 

manufacturing, predictive maintenance, 

or sensors. 

(4) List of interested MEP Center’s 

anticipated team members. 

Letter of interest must not include 

business proprietary information. NIST 

will not treat any information provided 

in response to this Notice as proprietary 

information. NIST will notify each 

organization of its eligibility. NIST does 

not guarantee participation in the 

Consortium to any organization 

submitting a Letter of interest. 

Alicia Chambers, 

NIST Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2021–18129 Filed 8–23–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Draft Programmatic Environmental 

Impact Statement for Surveying and 

Mapping Projects in U.S. Waters for 

Coastal and Marine Data Acquisition, 

Extension of Public Comment Period 

AGENCY: National Ocean Service (NOS), 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), Department of 

Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice; extension of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

National Ocean Service (NOS) is 

extending the public comment period 

by 90 days for the Draft Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) 

for Surveying and Mapping Projects in 

U.S. Waters for Coastal and Marine Data 

Acquisition. The end of the public 

comment period is extended from 

August 24, 2021 to November 22, 2021. 

DATES: The public comment period is 

extended by 90 days to November 22, 

2021. Comments must be received by 

November 22, 2021, as specified under 

ADDRESSES. Comments received after 

this date may not be accepted. 

ADDRESSES: The Draft PEIS can be 

viewed or downloaded from the NOS 

website at https://

oceanservice.noaa.gov/about/ 

environmental-compliance/surveyingmapping.html. Written comments on 

NOS’s Draft PEIS may be submitted by 

one of the following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and enter 

NOAA–NOS–2021–0055 in the Search 

box. Click on the ‘‘Comment’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Please direct written 

comments to DOC/NOAA/NOS 

Environmental Compliance Coordinator, 

SSMC4-Station 13612, 1305 East West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910. 

• Email: nosaa.ec@noaa.gov. 

• Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NOAA. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NOAA will 

accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/ 

A’’ in the required fields if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Giannina DiMaio, DOC/NOAA/NOS, 

Environmental Compliance Coordinator, 

SSMC4-Station 13612, 1305 East West 

Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910; 

Phone: 240–533–0918; or Email 

nosaa.ec@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 

25, 2021, NOS published a Notice of 

Availability of a Draft PEIS for 

Surveying and Mapping Projects in U.S. 

Waters for Coastal and Marine Data 

Acquisition. 86 FR 33663 (June 25, 

2021). The Draft PEIS was prepared in 

accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (NEPA), to analyze the 

potential environmental impacts 

associated with NOS’s recurring data 

collection projects to characterize 

submerged features (e.g., habitat, 

bathymetry, marine debris). The ‘‘action 

area’’ for these projects encompasses 

United States (U.S.) rivers, states’ 

offshore waters, the U.S. territorial sea, 

the contiguous zone, the U.S. Exclusive 

Economic Zone (U.S. EEZ), and coastal 

and riparian lands. As a part of the 

Proposed Action, NOS may use active 

acoustic equipment such as sub-bottom 

profilers, single beam and multibeam 

echo sounders, side-scan sonars, and 

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers. The 

Draft PEIS analyzes NOS data collection 

projects for a time period of six years. 

Please refer to the original Notice of 

Availability for additional summary 

information. 


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