The Predictive Artificial Intelligence-based system for furniture testing will support the efficiency and productivity of the Spanish furniture sector and save costs, but will not replace traditional physical testing, which is necessary for national and international product certifications through accredited laboratories.
A multidisciplinary team of specialists from the Spanish furniture sector and related industries has developed a digitalised system that makes it possible to check, prior to the manufacturing process, whether the furniture, both for public and domestic use, exceeds the safety requirements for its commercialisation.
The system performs the test based on the scanning of the physical product which will assess whether the furniture exceeds the requirements for the intended use and the target market based on the complex and numerous standards and legislations for which the products need variations.
In addition, the twin system will provide valuable information to the technical office before manufacturing the new prototype to be tested, clearing multiple variables that interact in a design that responds to functional and aesthetic criteria.
This paradigm shift represents a revolution for the industry, which carries out the tests, as is mandatory, on real prototypes that subsequently require the necessary modifications to pass the tests that guarantee safety for the consumer.
After several months of work, the GDM project partners have generated for the habitat industry a beta version of the digital twin construction model with artificial intelligence that allows companies to anticipate compliance with the regulatory and legal requirements that apply to each type of furniture, from the initial concept and design phase of the product.
Preliminary designs of the virtual prototype from the physical model.
Once the virtual product is built, the model allows the design to be validated and the results to be compared with the physical product and to generate learning through artificial intelligence.
The consortium of the GDM initiative, ‘Research and development of a predictive model for the simulation of the mechanical behaviour of furniture with digital twin techniques’, is participated by AMUEBLA (Innovative Business Grouping of Furniture Manufacturers and Related Industries of the Region of Murcia), the Technological Institute AIDIMME (AEI Wood-Furniture), the Spanish Grouping of Exporting Companies, ARVET, the Technological Centre CETEM, and the company SANCAL Diseño, the AIDIMME Technological Institute (AEI Wood-Furniture), the Spanish Grouping of Exporting Companies, ARVET, the CETEM Technological Centre, and the company SANCAL Diseño, and has been financed by the Ministry of Industry through the Next Generation Funds and the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
Artificial intelligence for furniture
To carry out this ambitious project, its promoters have relied on the valuable information from the tests carried out over the years on multiple models and materials, which will allow technicians to create future digital replicas of the testing machines (digital twins) that will subject the designs to virtual tests, in this case of the initial model with the replica for seating furniture of a chair.
In this way, a digital twin construction model has been developed with an artificial intelligence engine based on predictive techniques such as reinforcement learning, i.e., capable of advancing design optimisation solutions from the historical repository of test data sheets, combined with the data obtained by the system in real time.
On the left, testing of the physical product. On the right, virtual test of the digital twin of the product.
Therefore, this selective and sequential learning of artificial intelligence has generated a predictive analysis that allows rethinking the designed structure and its materials, and that helps in the complexity of transferring the multiple factors that affect the product, such as the different characteristics of the materials used, the fittings, joints, assemblies, or welds, and the geometries of the designs, among many other variables.
As a result, a single prototype will be manufactured, which will minimise errors, reducing costs and time to market, thus adding value to the entire production chain and boosting the competitiveness of the sector’s productive fabric.
In this way, the AEIs AMUEBLA (Region of Murcia) and Madera-Mueble (Valencian Community), together with their partners, aim to increase the existing knowledge of these technologies in order to carry out simulations prior to the validation phases of prototypes, so as to provide designers with relevant information when developing products that comply with the applicable regulations.
GDM is currently outlining the access to a platform created for quick consultation and vision, where a repository of standards and tests will be offered to access a basic recreation of the test as a previous step to the development of the specific twin with all the product characteristics.
Thus, the incorporation of Industry 4.0 into production processes in the Spanish furniture sector will soon have this tool that will enhance the agility and flexibility of manufacturing with final products that meet safety standards from the origin of their concept.
Participants:
•AEI AMUEBLA (Agrupación empresarial innovadora de fabricantes de muebles y afines de la Región de Murcia)
AEI Madera-Mueble de la Comunidad Valenciana (titularidad de AIDIMME)
• Agrupación Española de Empresas Exportadoras (ARVET),
• Centro Tecnológico del Mueble y la Madera de la Región de Murcia (CETEM)
• SANCAL DISEÑO
