The ECCE Organizing Committee has arranged for multiple industry tour options to attendees Tickets will be offered for purchase with your registration. Opportunity to explore and learn abounds at during these afternoon tours.

Technical Tours: Tuesday October 11, 2022

9:00 – 10:30 am : Henry Ford Museum

12:00 – 1 pm : MCity Autonomous Vehicle Test Track at the University of Michigan

1:15- 2 pm : UM Transportation Research Institute

2:15 – 2:30 pm : UM Ford Robotics Building / M-Air

2:45 – 3:00 pm : UM Battery Lab


The Henry Ford Factory Tour

Pop open the hood on game-changing technology, sustainable design and sheer American grit at America’s greatest manufacturing experience. Get an inside look at the making of America’s most iconic truck, the Ford F-150, and immerse yourself in modern manufacturing’s most progressive concepts. Experience the awe-inspiring scale of a real factory floor as you rev up your inner engineer. This is where big ideas gain momentum. Looking for inspiring things to do? Completely reimagined, the factory has undergone a sweeping transformation to become a model of 21st-century sustainable design and showcases how community, business and the environment can thrive together in a single environment. Start to finish, the Ford Rouge Factory Tour offers awe-inspiring encounters with America’s celebrated manufacturing past, present, and future.

UMTRI

At UMTRI we are focused on multidisciplinary research to advance safe, equitable, and efficient transportation and mobility. And we are using our expertise, our passion and 55 years of history to become the world’s foremost organization focusing on multidisciplinary transportation safety and mobility. Sustaining global leadership in transportation safety and mobility research is paramount. Whether we are deploying connected and automated vehicles, researching cutting edge mobility solutions for all, or we are influencing polices and regulations that will reduce crashes and save thousands of lives around the world, we are focused on safe, equitable and efficient transportation for all.

MISSION

To conduct and disseminate multidisciplinary transportation research to advance safe, equitable, and efficient mobility.

VISION

To be the foremost research organization focusing on multidisciplinary transportation safety and mobility through our leadership, research, education, resources, and partnerships.

VALUES

IMPACT – Conducting research and education that improves peoples’ lives through safe, equitable, and efficient mobility.

INTEGRITY – Exhibiting personal and professional integrity as part of maintaining the highest standards in research excellence.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION – Collaborating across multiple disciplines in order to produce the best outcomes.

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION – Creating and implementing unique approaches to solve challenging mobility problems.

INCLUSIVENESS AND RESPECT – Actively seeking and valuing the contributions of all to ensure a welcoming and productive environment.

To conduct and disseminate multidisciplinary transportation research to advance safe, equitable, and efficient mobility.

Mcity Test Facility

Mcity operates the world’s first purpose-built proving ground for testing the performance and safety of connected and automated vehicles and technologies under controlled and realistic conditions. Designed for Early-Stage Research and Development Testing new technologies in a safe, controlled environment is essential before deploying automated vehicles on public streets, roads, and highways. The Mcity Test Facility sits on a 32-acre site on U-M’s North Campus Research Complex, with more than 16 acres of roads and traffic infrastructure. The full-scale outdoor laboratory simulates the broad range of complexities vehicles encounter in urban and suburban environments, and provides the connected infrastructure and operating system to serve as a smart city test bed.

Mcity Test Facility Features

  • State-of-the-art instrumentation and sensors throughout the facility include a control network to collect data about traffic activity using wireless, fiber optics, Ethernet, and a highly accurate real-time kinematic positioning system
  • Patent-pending augmented reality testing technology allows physical test vehicles to interact with virtually connected vehicles in real time inside the facility
  • Fully connected 5G network and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication throughout the facility
  • Facility infrastructure and testing conditions can be controlled with our Mcity OS cloud-based software
  • Multiple road surfaces, variety of road markings and crossing types (e.g. pedestrian, railroad)
  • 1,000-foot straightaway, plus access ramps, curves, roundabout, traffic circle, and urban streets
  • Traffic signals and traffic signs, plus building facades and simulated tree cover
  • House and garage exterior with accessibility ramp for first-mile/last-mile testing, deliveries, and ride hailing
  • Bridge deck, underpass, guardrails, barriers, and crash attenuators
  • Onsite workstation and configurable open test areas
  • Test vehicles and support available

UM Ford Robotics Building

The Ford Robotics Building brings all parts of the robotics enterprise together for real-world results. The new building is designed to promote collaborative work across disciplines, involving students and faculty at all levels, from a variety of fields. It also promotes collaboration with external partners, including the Ford Motor Company, who have a permanent presence on site. It has spaces for teaching, experimentation, and testing, in purpose-built bays and laboratories that represent the state of the art.

Opened in 2021, the Ford Robotics building is the home of Michigan Robotics. The 134,000-square-foot, four-story complex houses classrooms, offices, a cafe, and a startup-style open collaboration area and tailored lab space for a variety of robotic technologies. A few highlights include:

  • Three-story fly zone for autonomous aerial vehicles
  • An outdoor obstacle course for walking robots
  • High-bay garage space for self-driving cars
  • A rehabilitation lab with a Stewart platform, force plates, and dual-tread treadmill
  • A robotics maker space with CNC, 3D printers, soldering irons, and other shop tools
  • An outdoor Mars Yard with imitation martian rocks and soil for testing rovers
  • Earned Gold LEED Certification for its construction and design

M-Air

M-Air is a 10,000 sq ft, four-story, netted scientific facility that enables the study of autonomy and collaborative robotics in the “wild”, with emphasis on dealing with the full range of Michigan weather, -30C to 38C, with rain, sleet, wind, and snow.

This space enables the evaluation of prototype hardware and algorithms in a safe manner, thereby encouraging risk-taking for rapid exploration of ideas. M-Air accelerates the pursuit of aggressive educational and research flight projects that involve high risk of fly-away or loss-of-control—and in realistic wind, lighting and sensor conditions. It allows researchers to better understand operational risks associated with real-world outdoor flights with no real risk to people or other aircraft outside the net.

M-Air is located on UM’s College of Engineering, directly across the street from the Aerospace Department, University of Michigan Wind Tunnels, and the soon to be completed 134k sq ft Robotics Building.

UM Battery Lab

The U-M Battery Lab is a full-service battery cell fabrication and testing facility. We work with the industrial and academic energy storage user community to prototype, test and analyze batteries and the materials that go into them.

Equipment:

  • Battery electrode testing:
    • Maccor: 10A, Maccor: 150uA-5A, Maccor: 30uA-1A, Maccor: 50A

  • Calendaring:
    • CIS: 150 degrees Celsius, CIS: 2kN/cm 150 degrees Celsius

  • Cell assembly:
    • KOEM 18650 cell winder, mPlus: 18650 cell assembly, mPlus: prismatic cell assembly, Toyo: coin cell crimper, Toyo: coin cell de-crimper

  • Coating:
    • CIS: Multicoating Type, Mathis Labcoater

  • Electrochemical Characterization:
    • Princeton Applied Research Scanning Electrochemical Probe Microscope, Solartron 1260 and ModuLab Impedance Analyzers

  • Electrode preparation:
    • CIS: manual electrode punches, CIS: slitting machine, mPlus: prismatic electrode punches

  • Electron Microscope:
    • Hitachi: S3500N SEM w/EDAX

  • Mixing:
    • Buhler: Hivis Disper Mix 3D-10, Buhler: Hivis Disper Mix 3D-5, Buhler: Hivis Mix 2p-03, Primix: FILMIX 56-30

  • Particle size analyzer:
    • Beckman Coulter Laser Diffraction Particle Size Analyzer

  • Raman spectroscopy instruments:
    • Horiba Micro Raman Spectrometer

  • Rheometer:
    • TA Instruments DHR2 Rheometer

  • Strain analysis:
    • Luna: Fiber Optic Strain and Temperature Gauge

  • Surface area analysis:
    • Micrometrics BET Surface Area Analysis

  • Thermal analysis:
    • TA Instruments Differential Scanning Calorimeter, TA Instruments Thermogravimetric Analyzer, Thermal Hazard Technology: Accelerated Rate Calorimeter

  • Vacuum Atmosphere Genesis Glove Boxe
  • Xray diffractomer:

    • Rigaku MiniFlex 600 Table-top