The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute is proud to announce the project selections from the institute’s recent Robotic Inspection for Casting & Forging Project Call released in April 2025. Funding for this project call was provided by the Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program (OSD ManTech).
The ARM Institute is the nation’s leading robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) Manufacturing Innovation Institute. ARM Institute projects bridge the gaps between industry, government, and academia to spur impactful innovations that strengthen U.S. manufacturing. By releasing Project Calls to the ARM Institute’s 450+ member organization consortium, the ARM Institute is able to connect groups that otherwise would not be able to collaborate.
Cast and forged components lie at the heart of critical commercial and defense systems, providing a vital contribution to warfighter readiness for the United States. However, these industries are plagued with significant issues, including personnel safety concerns, material availability, and cost, further exacerbated by the legacy platforms, whose designs and processes were largely conceived, defined, and stored on paper. The challenges for the United States to produce low-volume, high mix cast and forged components pose a critical and enduring issue.
The use of robotics in casting and forging represents a significant opportunity to enhance our national security. To match the urgency of this opportunity, the ARM Institute executed a rapid process with the Project Call being released in mid-April 2025, submissions due at the beginning of May 2025, selections made a few days later, and projects beginning at the end of May.
This Project Call leveraged the ARM Institute’s extensive prior work on robotic solutions for casting and forging as a foundation with the objectives being derived from the institute’s research, lessons learned from previous projects, and the institute’s Roadmap for Robotics and Automation in Casting and Forging, which was created in partnership with subject matter experts from the institute’s consortium and industry.