Bringing Industrial AI to

Smart Manufacturing –

Measurement and Evaluation Needs

July 10, 2020

Brian A. Weiss

Engineering Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Brian.Weiss@nist.gov

The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of NIST. Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in

this document to illustrate a point or concept. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by NIST, nor is it intended to imply that the

entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. 
NIST Mission

To promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing 

measurement science, standards, and technology in 

ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life

• Creating the experimental and theoretical tools –

methods, metrics, instruments, and data – that enable 

innovation

Measurement Science

• Disseminating physical standards and providing technical 

expertise to documentary standards that enable 

comparison, ensure interoperability, and support 

commerce

Standards

• Driving innovation through knowledge dissemination and 

public-private partnerships that bridge the gap between 

discovery and the marketplace

Technology
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MANUFACTURING 

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MANUFACTURING 

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PERFORMANCE 

EXCELLENCE PROGRAM

NIST AT A GLANCE
Strategic Priorities, National Impacts

Cybersecurity Advanced Manufacturing

© Robert Rathe
Strategic Priorities, National Impacts

Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things

Credit: N.Hanacek/NIST Credit: chesky/fotolia.com
Measurement Science

Used in the context of creating critical-solution

enabling tools – metrics, models, and knowledge –

for U.S. manufacturers. This includes: 

• Development of... 

• Performance metrics - Artifacts

• Measurement and testing methods - Protocols

• Predictive modeling and simulation tools - Technical data

• Reference materials (e.g. data sets) - Knowledge modeling

• Conduct inter-comparison studies and calibrations 

• Evaluation of technologies, systems, and practices

• Development of the technical basis for standards, codes, guidelines, 

and/or practices 

Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock
NIST Laboratory Programs

NIST Center 

for Neutron 

Research

Center for 

Nanoscale 

Science and 

Technology

Communication

Technology

Laboratory

Information

Technology

Laboratory

Engineering 

Laboratory

Physical 

Measurement 

Laboratory

Material 

Measurement 

Laboratory
Engineering Laboratory Goal Areas

Resilience Cyber 

Physical 

Systems

Energy Smart 

Manufacturing

https://www.nist.gov/el
Smart Manufacturing Enables...

• Make what you want, where you want it, and when you want it. 

• Respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions

• Easily and rapidly reconfigure factory production to optimize performance

• Deal with uncertainty and anomalies to enable continuous improvement

• Maintain seamless interoperability

Courtesy of

Adobe Stock
Smart Manufacturing

Objective: To enable the next generation of 

innovative and competitive manufacturing 

through dynamic production systems and 

rapid design-to-production transformation

• Measurement Science for Additive Manufacturing

• Measurement Science for Manufacturing Robotics

• Model-based Enterprise

• Trustworthy Systems, Components, and Data for 

Smart Manufacturing

https://www.nist.gov/el/goals-programs/smart-manufacturing
Embodied AI and Data Generation for 

Manufacturing Robotics Research

• Provides structured artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) training 

datasets, and proven, trained, and applied AI/ML models, to improve the 

performance and autonomy of manufacturing robotic applications.

• Allows manufacturers to gain more value from their robots by allowing the robot 

to “learn” new tasks, and how to

better perform existing tasks, without

the need for human intervention. 

• Initial area of focus are applying AI to:

• Characterizing training data features

• Human-robot interaction

• Object pose recognition

• Rapid robot task re-planning
To develop and deploy

measurement science

to promote the implementation,

verification, and validation of

advanced monitoring,

diagnostic, and prognostic

technologies to increase

reliability and decrease

downtime in smart

manufacturing systems

Prognostics and Health Management for Reliable 

Operations in Smart Manufacturing Research

Identification and Isolation of

Robot Workcell Degradation

Assessment of Robot Accuracy

Degradation

Smart Machine Tools – Linear Axes 

Diagnostics and Prognostics

Smart Machine Tools – Spindle

Health Monitoring

Bottom Image – Courtesy of Adobe Stock
Knowledge Extraction and Application for 

Manufacturing Operations

• Develop and deploy advances in standards, 

measurement science, and software tools using 

actionable, computable, domain knowledge 

stemming from informal text-based data to 

augment a manufacturers’ ability to perform 

model-based and data-driven analyses. 

• Explore hybridized Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 

expert-driven methodologies for quantifying 

human knowledge.

• Assist in labelling and analyzing text-based 

documents to enable decision making and 

continuous improvement.
Brian A. Weiss

Intelligent Systems Division

brian.weiss@nist.gov

(301) 975-4373

NIST

100 Bureau Drive, MS 8230

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

www.nist.gov/el/maintenance
Manufacturing USA Network

Flexible Hybrid 

Electronics

San Jose, CA

Smart Sensors 

and Digital 

Process Control

Los Angeles, CA

Modular 

Chemical 

Process 

Intensification

New York, NY

Biopharmaceutical 

Manufacturing

Newark, DE

Digital 

Manufacturing 

& Design

Chicago, IL

Integrated 

Photonics

Albany, NY

Rochester, NY

Regenerative 

Manufacturing

Manchester, NH

Advanced 

Fibers and 

Textiles

Rochester, NY Cambridge, MA

Sustainable 

Manufacturing

Wide Bandgap 

Semiconductors

Raleigh, NC

Advanced 

Composites 

Knoxville, TN

Detroit MI

Lightweight 

Metals

Detroit, MI

Advanced 

Robotics

Pittsburgh, PA

Additive

Manufacturing

Youngstown, OH

El Paso, TX