The Center for Advanced Manufacturing will provide research on robotics and other areas. (Photo/Courtesy of USC CAM)
USC Viterbi’s new Center for Advanced Manufacturing to open
The downtown L.A. facility will provide students with firsthand experience in advanced technologies
A new Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CAM) is scheduled to open Feb. 24 at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The 6,000-square-foot facility in downtown Los Angeles will bring together faculty with expertise in machine learning, augmented and virtual reality and affordable 3-D printing, among other areas. When it opens, CAM will serve as the Southern California hub for a new U.S. Department of Defense-sponsored institute focusing on robotic manufacturing.
“The USC Center on Advanced Manufacturing is poised to become the premier research and innovation center on advanced manufacturing in the greater Los Angeles area,” said USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos. “It will serve the academic community and also help support the fast-growing technological ecosystem in Silicon Beach.
“We envision CAM to become the incubator for the development of unprecedented new opportunities in design, making and automation and be a lab for the businesses and jobs of the future.”
A resource for businesses
USC CAM, led by robotics expert S.K. Gupta, will support a comprehensive program in advanced manufacturing. It will feature a design studio and a machining lab and will be furnished with industrial robots. In addition, it will have a classroom for training and instruction of undergraduates and graduate-level students.
The center will serve as a resource for large and small businesses to research manufacturing innovations. It will also focus on manufacturing in aerospace and the biomedical industry with the aim of bringing medical devices to market at a lower cost.
Gupta believes that advanced manufacturing can make domestic production more competitive and lessen a negative impact on the environment.
“Innovation in manufacturing can speed up creation of new products,” Gupta said. “And cost-effective manufacturing can enable products to be made closer to the customers.”
Gupta stressed the role that he believes the center will have for Los Angeles and the state of California.
“A healthy manufacturing sector provides well-paying jobs and reduces unemployment,” he said. “We believe that USC CAM will contribute to this effort by helping build a vibrant manufacturing ecosystem.”