Smarter, greener, better – redefining the future of machine power

In
an
age
of
smart
machines,
EU-funded
researchers
are
ensuring
that
they
are
being
designed
with
sustainability
and
societal
well-being
in
mind.

By
Jack
McGovan

Machines
have
always
fascinated
Dr
Didem
Gürdür
Broo,
a
computer
scientist
from
Cyprus
with
a
PhD
in
mechatronics.
It
was
a
childhood
dream
of
hers
to
learn
to
code
and
build
things.
So,
as
soon
as
she
was
old
enough,
she
decided
to
enter
the
field
of
computer
science.

As
her
studies
advanced,
however,
Gürdür
Broo
became
aware
that
the
field
as
a
whole
was
focused
almost
solely
on
how
machines
could
be
made
more
productive,
with
other
questions
largely
ignored.

“I
realised
that
a
focus
on
productivity
alone
was
a
very
narrow
view
of
what
we
could
get
out
of
machines,”
she
said.

Cyber-physical
future

Drawing
on
her
interest
in
environmental
issues,
Gürdür
Broo,
now
head
of
the
Cyber-Physical
Systems
Lab
at
the
University
of
Uppsala
in
Sweden,
began
to
question
the
prevailing
wisdom
of
the
field.

She
developed
an
interest
in
how
mechanical
processes
could
be
made
more
energy-efficient,
more
sustainable
and
more
socially
responsible,
rather
than
just
more
productive.

In
2021,
she
was
awarded
a
research
grant
from
the
EU
to
pursue
this
idea
further
and
explore
how
to
make
emerging
cyber-physical
systems
(CPS)
–
basically
any
system
that
involves
a
physical
process
in
a
feedback
loop
with
a
computer
–
more
sustainable.

Her
research,
carried
out
in
part
at
Stanford
University
in
the
US,
was
part
of
a
four-year
research
project
called
Sustainable-CPS.

“It
is
very
important
to
think
about
how
we
can
design
and
operate
CPS
in
a
more
sustainable
way,”
she
said.

European
momentum

Machines
and
computers
are
becoming
integral
to
the
way
we
live,
work
and
interact.
From
self-driving
cars
to
advanced
manufacturing
systems,
the
seamless
interaction
between
machines
and
computers
is
reshaping
industries
and
daily
life.

The
EU
is
supporting
research
into
CPS,
with
the
goal
of
speeding
up
their
development
and ensuring
these
technologies
address
real-world
needs
while
contributing
to
Europe’s
competitiveness
and
sustainability.

The
foundations
of
current
CPS
development
were
laid
by
earlier
EU-funded
researchers
in
projects
like
EXCELL,
coordinated
by
the
HUN-REN Institute
for
Computer
Science
and
Control
(SZTAKI)
in
Budapest,
Hungary.

Academics
from
Hungary,
Germany,
Belgium
and
the
UK
set
out
to
explore
big
data
applications
for
CPS
in
production
and
logistics
networks.
The
main
scientific
and
innovation
focus
was
based
on
a
combination
of
global
trends
and
local
requirements.

Industry
4.0

According
to
Dr
Elisabeth
Zudor,
the
coordinator
of
the
EXCELL
research,
the
transformation
of
industrial
manufacturing
through
concepts
like
the
Internet
of
Things
(IoT)
and
the
Factory
of
the
Future
will
rely
on
efficient
and
sustainable
CPS.

“The
fourth
industrial
revolution
will
be
based
on
CPS
that
will
monitor,
analyse
and
automate
business
processes,
transforming
production
and
logistic
processes,”
said
Zudor,
who
is
a
senior
researcher
and
advisor
at
SZTAKI.

Through
a
series
of
academic
exchanges,
secondments
and
training
programmes,
the
EXCELL
team
helped
to
develop
the
knowledge
base
on
CPS
across
Europe.
“EXCELL
helped
the
people
involved
in
the
research
project
to
accelerate
their
knowledge
growth,”
she
said.

It
also
put
in
place
a
lasting
transnational
collaboration
that
has
continued
well
beyond
the
end
of
the
project
itself.

The
research
team
focused
on
aspects
such
as
human-system
interactions,
IoT
for
business
and
next-generation
authorisation
solutions,
among
others.

A
strong
emphasis
was
placed
on
ensuring
the
research
outcomes
could
benefit
industries
by
introducing
innovative
solutions
in
production
and
logistics.

A
shift
in
mindset

CPS
are
part
of
Europe’s
Digital
Decade
policy,
which
has
set
concrete
targets
and
objectives
for
2030
aimed
at
empowering
businesses
and
people
in
“a
human-centred,
sustainable
and
more
prosperous
digital
future”.
This
includes
an
ambition
to
have
75%
of
EU
companies
using
Cloud,
AI,
or
Big
Data.

An
important
part
of
Gürdür
Broo’s
work
was
to
change
how
issues
of
sustainability
are
addressed
when
it
comes
to
CPS.

“Sustainability
is
such
a
complex
issue
that
it
requires
you
to
think
differently,”
she
said.
“When
we
design
CPS,
we
need
to
look
at
not
only
the
system
itself,
but
all
the
systems
adjacent
to
that
and
how
they
interact.”

According
to
Gürdür
Broo,
sustainable
development
has
economic,
social
and
environmental
dimensions.
And
the
only
way
to
solve
challenges
in
all
three
is
to
shift
how
we
think
about
them.

Her
work
on
the
implementation
of
intelligent
systems
such
as
collaborative
robots,
autonomous
vehicles
and
smart
cities
has
earned
her
recognition
in
the
field.
In
2023,
she
was
selected
by
Women
in
Robotics
as
one
of
the
50
Women
in
Robotics
You
Need
to
Know
About.

Her
research
produced
a
framework
for
developing
CPS
which
combines
different
skills
and
looks
at
CPS
development
through
three
different
lenses:
a
systems
mindset,
a
design
mindset
and
a
futuristic
mindset.

She
said
the
way
in
which
the
framework
addresses
multiple
perspectives
is
very
useful
when
considering
how
to
integrate
sustainability
into
research.

“Otherwise,
you
can
get
tunnel
vision
and
forget
to
think
about
how
different
topics
relate
to
each
other.”

Research
in
this
article
was
funded
by
the
EU’s
Framework
Programme,
including,
in
the
case
of
Sustainable-CPS,
via
the
Marie
Skłodowska-Curie
Actions
(MSCA).
The
views
of
the
interviewees
don’t
necessarily
reflect
those
of
the
European
Commission.

More
info

​This
article
was
originally
published in Horizon the
EU
Research
and
Innovation
Magazine.