Creating “Born Qualified” Assets Through AI, AR/VR, and Hybrid Manufacturing
A student-led digital engineering ecosystem accelerates skills acquisition, asset production, and workforce readiness.
The “Giants of Oak Ridge” Testbed innovates a new digital engineering ecosystem. It integrates innovative design, manufacturing, and training technologies to produce “born qualified” assets - while nurturing the next-generation of talent. By uniting AI-augmented CAD/CAM, Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), multi-axis CNC, metrology-grade scanning, and immersive AR/VR training, the testbed delivers a real-time digital thread from concept to creation.
The initiative's first test project—producing a digital twin-enabled statue of a Manhattan Project figure - one of the giants of Oak Ridge - showcases how physical artifacts and interactive avatars can coexist within a unified ecosystem. This hybrid workflow captures data across every phase of design and fabrication, enabling defect reduction, precision alignment, and skill benchmarking.
Designed to accelerate skills acquisition, the digital engineering testbed reduces training time by 30% through immersive XR environments while cutting design-to-production time by 50%. It establishes best practices for student-led workflows, creating workforce-ready templates applicable to precision manufacturing, aerospace, defense, and biomedical sectors.
In collaboration with industry partners, research institutions, and national labs, the digital engineering testbed bridges the gap between education and enterprise. It provides a replicable framework for digital twin-driven learning environments that simultaneously build intelligent assets and an equally intelligent, job-ready workforce.
The testbed contributes to industry advancement in the following ways:
Accelerating Skills Acquisition: Integrating AR/VR/XR technologies to reduce training time for new operators by 30%, enabling faster learning and improving operational readiness.
Immersive Training: Leveraging AR/VR-enabled environments to deliver hands-on learning experiences that enhance the ability of students and workers to acquire precision manufacturing skills.
Student-Led Workflows: Establishing best practices for student-led digital engineering workflows, empowering learners to gain real-world experience in advanced manufacturing and digital engineering.
Workforce-Ready Templates: Generating templates for intelligent asset creation and immersive training to prepare individuals for careers in precision manufacturing and STEM-related fields.
Industry Collaboration: Involving industry partners and stakeholders to bridge the gap between education and workforce needs, ensuring training aligns with current and emerging industry demands.
Member, Lead Developer
Member, Co-Developers
Contributing Technology Providers
- Y12
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- ORETTC