Highly Qualified Personnnel Spotlight

With mounting scientific evidence and growing public concern about climate change, manufacturing waste has come under scrutiny. The manufacturing sector produces around 60% of non-hazardous waste, and in order to move towards a sustainable economy, it is crucial to manage this.

Research currently being undertaken by this month’s featured HQP, Habiba Imam and Hamdan Al-Musaibeli, looks at a method for damage detection, localization, and tool-path planning for cylindrical components, one strategic piece of the solution to the problem of manufacturing waste.

Cylindrical geometry is amongst the most commonly produced primitive geometry in manufacturing. A repair process restores value in a damaged component by bringing it back to like-new condition, allowing for reuse rather than disposal. Understandably, this offers numerous environmental and economic advantages.

However, the most important information for repairing a worn component is determining the scale of damage, and the current repair process relies heavily on human operators for damage detection and localization. This work is both dangerous and costly.

To address the safety implications as well as repair process, the team at the Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing, Design, and Automation (LIMDA), led by Dr. Rafiq Ahmad, propose a novel repair framework for cylindrical components by incorporating deep learning and computer vision technologies.

A vision-based system is designed first to detect the damaged region in pixels, then, using that information, automatically localize the damage in spatial (3D) coordinates. A 3-dimensional point cloud data of the localized region is acquired using a time-of-flight sensor, and based on the geometry of the damage volume, an adequate tool-path is generated for depositing material by laser cladding technology.

Both Habiba and Hamdan are excited about the potential for this technology. “We believe that autonomous systems will gradually transform the manufacturing and repair industry. These systems will play a crucial role in increasing quality, productivity, and safety while eliminating waste. With that being said, ample human intervention will be required to keep the autonomous systems working for their intended purposes,” says Habiba.

And these two bright young talents bring rich international experience and perspective to the team. Habiba gained a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus, in 2017 while Hamdan graduated with the same degree from Taibah University, Medina, in 2019. Both are currently pursuing their M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta while working at LIMDA.

Both came to Alberta as international students, convinced by its reputation for Engineering research and welcoming environment. Habiba reflects upon the impact of experiencing different cultures. “I have realized that my identity is an integration of the aspects of each culture that resonated with me. As well, meeting people from different parts of the world has helped shape who I am today.” And attracting these bright minds from across the world is an important part in Alberta’s future success.

Both hope to stay in Alberta once they have completed their studies. Hamdan has plans to continue on to a Ph.D. at the University of Alberta once finished his M.Sc. Habiba says she is still considering the different directions she might take her career, and says she is interested in the role or influence of engineers in public policy making. “I feel it is important that engineers participate fully in these important decision processes and would like to someday be involved.”

But Alberta also has something else holding her here. “I haven’t had enough of the beautiful Rockies just yet.”