Arts et Métiers ESI are launching a chair to develop research and training in real-time digital simulation and artificial intelligence.
ESI Group is a global leader in virtual prototyping software and services. The company is present in virtually all industrial sectors and employs more than 1,200 specialists in over 40 countries.
ESI has developed unique expertise in materials physics to help manufacturers replace physical prototypes with virtual ones, enabling them to virtually manufacture and test their future products and ensure their pre-certification.
Recognition ofArts et Métiers expertise
The group has decided to create a chair with Arts et Métiers to develop innovative research and training in the field of digital engineering of material behavior, manufacturing processes, structures, and complex systems. Arts et Métiers recognized by manufacturers for its expertise in the fields of artificial intelligence and digital simulation in the context of Industry 4.0. The institution is also participating in a European project (IoTwin) on this subject (see below).
€1.5 million over 5 years
"ESI is providing €1.5 million in funding for the chair over a period of five years," explains Francisco Chinesta, professor at PIMM. "The aim is to create virtual avatars for large industrial systems in order to predict their life cycle and maintenance requirements."
This funding will be used to hire doctoral students and post-docs, as well as researchers and research engineers. Part of the funding will also be used to organize conferences and symposiums in France and internationally.
"At the same time, ESI Group has set up a joint laboratory with the school," explains Francisco Chinesta. Called Live2 (ESI-Ensam Virtual Engineering Laboratory), this facility will be used to develop applied research projects, while the chair focuses more on fundamental research. As part of Live2, ESI Group is providing six research engineers and two CIFRE doctoral students."
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Led by Professor Francisco Chinesta, the chair involves the PIMM laboratory as well as other Arts et Métiers laboratories, notably teams from the Aix-en-Provence, Angers, Bordeaux-Talence, Chalon-sur-Saône, and Metz sites.
Five research themes will be launched:
- the reduction of third-generation models, combining advanced discretization methods and new artificial intelligence techniques;
- the hybrid twin capable of operating in highly variable environments;
- interactive, collaborative, and decentralized modeling of complex systems and production chains;
- augmented and hybrid reality;
- quantum simulation.
Finally, on the application side, a demonstrator of a robotic and adaptive assembly line will be developed, in close connection with projects in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region.
Coming soon: a Specialized Master's Degree®
The chair also includes a training component, notably with the creation of a specialized Master's degree® program scheduled to launch in September 2020. In addition, the ESI Group is making all of its simulation software available to Arts et Métiers teachers and students, thereby contributing not only to specific training programs but also to the construction of an ecosystem for a new digital engineering pedagogy through concrete projects.
