ARM Hub, the best is yet to come – by Cori Stewart

Queensland’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing or ARM Hub has cemented its place as a not for profit robotics, AI and design for manufacture industry hub. Already at the forefront of industrial transformation in the state, CEO Cori Stewart predicts 2023 will be a defining year for the centre.

The coming year will be one of expanding ARM Hub’s programs to meet your evolving digital transformation and supply innovation needs.

I see Australian businesses working hard to secure their place in the global marketplace.

Over the coming months, my team and I will be meeting with many of you to discuss your priorities and the actions that will make a difference to your businesses. These valuable conversations will inform our upcoming 10-year plan. Details about this programme will be released soon.

Since the ARM Hub’s beginning in March 2020 our mission has been to accelerate industry’s adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies.

In this time, we have engaged with over 1,000 companies and secured over $54 million towards innovative projects for you – projects that digitally transform the way you do business. We are proud of our work making Australian businesses more skilled, more competitive, and more secure.

This year we will have new facilities and new programmes to offer – the ARM Hub has been leading and supporting work that is designed to bring step-change to industry. Some highlights include how we set up a multi-million-dollar, multi-year competitive program bid to establish a new Australia Research Council Training Centre for Digital Twins for Manufacturing.

The Centre will drive transformation in workforce capability, new technology and the appetite for Australian manufacturers to deploy digital twins. It will do this by developing the knowledge and skills to make this technology cybersecure, affordable, accessible, and trustworthy.

This bid involved working with four major Australian universities and numerous industry partners and was led by ARM Hub’s Professor and Chair of Robotics and Manufacturing, Will Browne.

ARM Hub has shaped and supported numerous other large scale bids, including Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) in augmented reality and SMART technology.

CRCs are funded for 10-years and work on problems that have been defined by industry.

In weeks, the bid to establish a CRC for events leading up to the Olympics will be lodged.

The Mega CRC is designed to help Australian companies prepare for the 2032 games by participating in events in the lead-up. If the bid is successful, ARM Hub will play a major role in helping small to medium enterprises participate in the supply chain for major events.

We are also building the future workforce, having engaged over 55 university and TAFE graduates at the ARM Hub on a wide range of projects with industry.

We look forward to welcoming more graduates to our team throughout the year.

I want to recognise the contribution of the ARM Hub Board and team over the past three years.

It is our 3rd anniversary in March and we will be celebrating with as many of you as possible. I have watched the organisation grow and expect this year to be the greatest yet.

Our door is always open. We would love to have you visit the facility and talk about how we can help you realise your advanced manufacturing goals.

Associate Professor Cori Stewart is a skilled science and technology commercialisation leader, who works in executive, academic and advisor roles across industry, government, and the research sector. As the Founder and CEO of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub, Cori has built an Australian-first not-for-profit technology commercialisation company, which has nurtured hundreds of businesses to innovate across their operations.

Picture: Cori Stewart