Project team performance
 All three project team members from the Serbian side (Prof. Žarko Ćojbašić, Prof. Goran Petrović and Prof. Predrag Milić) and the diaspora partner from Germany (Prof. Dragan Marinković) are performing their tasks entirely in accordance with project proposal, including Gantt Chart and approved budget. Only discrepancies were solely the result of the COVID pandemic and the resulting several project extensions, but the essence of the project activities was entirely preserved even under very difficult circumstances. Especially cooperation between team members can be marked as very adequate in all required aspects and beyond, such is for example regarding inclusion of young associates in project activities.

 

 Collaboration between the project team from SRO in Serbia and Project Partner/Host Institution
 Partner organization from Serbian (Mechanical Engineering Faculty of the University of Niš) and German side (Institute of Mechanics of the Technical University of Berlin) were chosen to be very compatible and compliant, with complementary expertise and research during preparation of the project proposal. Mechatronics and computational intelligence are strong research and educational fields at the MEF UNI Serbia, which is combined in the project with expertise of IFM TUB Germany in smart structures development, modelling and testing. The collaboration between project partners has proven to be highly adequate. Broadening and continuation of cooperation of the partner institutions is an important project goal, and SMSAS project should provide for strengthening of those activities which would allow closer and longer lasting cooperation of partner institutions. It is worth mentioning that beyond significant project disruption resulting from COVID pandemic, several extensions of the project resulted in change of the management on both partner sides, which is particularly important on German side who is not financed in any way and whose activities are solely based on good will approach. Still, project team managed to maintain activities and sustain successful project realization.

 

 Progress on implementation and results achieved 
 During the reported period several planned research tracks and activities have been performed, fully in compliance with the SMSAS project implementation plans. The first track was regarding development of research ideas, which constituted of review of state of the art in the field and development of ideas by cross-fertilization of expertises of both sides. The second track assumed mutual research on developed ideas, particularly mutual research on smart mechatronic structures and systems and experimental investigations and simulations and finally research on application to real world problems of smart robotic gripping and vibration suppression in transport and logistics. The third track assumed work on mutual publications, which supposed work on one conference and several journal publications, significantly beyond initial plans. The fourth track assumed work on dissemination activities, which encompassed Web site establishment and initial efforts on social media creation, and exploitation of the results by including young researchers into research activities. Finally, the fifth track assumed activities on broadening cooperation of Mechanical Engineering Faculty and TU Berlin, which so far included searching possibilities for further cooperation and mutual research in the future based on the project results. Summarized, scientific concepts explored in the first project phase aim at novel mechatronic systems with active elements using integrated intelligent controls, while methodology assumes novel approaches applied for advanced smart structures modelling and control.

 

 Project results and publishable summary
 Both mechatronics and smart materials have lately experienced remarkable growth in research and development. The combination of these two concepts, application of smart structures to mechatronic systems, is the aim of the SMSAS project. Resulting smart mechatronic systems must be properly designed, tested and controlled by advanced methods, so research within the project includes primarily application of advanced versions of finite element method and computational intelligence. Mechatronics and computational intelligence are strong research and educational fields at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty of the University of Niš, which is in the framework of SMSAS project combined in with expertise of German partner, Institute of Mechanics of the Technical University Berlin, in smart structures development, modelling and testing. Research is directed to the use of smart mechatronic systems in real applications. So far, during the first period of the project realization, various concepts for the coupling of mechatronic systems, smart structures and intelligent control have been analyzed and tested, in order to prove their usefulness and efficacy in terms of obtaining increased performance, reliability and robustness. These activities have resulted in several scientific publications and sparkled interest and more efforts on both project partner sides. Further impacts can be expected from involvement of young researchers into the project activities, as well from follow up project applications that will result from established cooperation. 

 

 Dissemination
[1] Milić P., Marinković D., Klinge S., Ćojbašić Ž., (2023) Reissner-Mindlin Based Isogeometric Finite Element Formulation for Piezoelectric Active Laminated Shells, Technical Gazette 30, 2(2023), 416-425, DOI 10.17559/TV-20230128000280.
[2] Lukić, B., Petrović, G., Milić, P., Marinković, D., Ćojbašić, Ž., (2021), Application of the decision tree in vehicle procurement decision making, Innovative Mechanical Engineering, 1(1):147-157.
[3] Petrović G., Pavlović J., Madić M., Marinković D., (2022) Optimal Synthesis of Loader Drive Mechanisms: A Group Robust Decision-Making Rule Generation Approach, MACHINES, MDPI, 10, 5,2075-1702, doi.org/10.3390/machines10050329, 2022.
[4] Lukić, B., Petrović, G., Milić, P., Marinković, D., Ćojbašić, Ž., (2021), Computational intelligence and machine learning in traffic and transportation, The 8th International Conference on Transport and Logistics (TIL 2021), University of Niš, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Niš.
[5] Milićević I., Popović M., Dučić N., Vujičić V., Stepanić P., Marinković D., Ćojbašić Ž., (2022), Improving The Mechanical Characteristics of the 3d Printing Objects Using Hybrid Machine Learning Approach, Facta Universitatis, Series: Mechanical Engineering, Online First, DOI 10.22190/FUME220429036M.

 

 Other dissemination and communication activities
Dissemination of the project results started in several directions, as planned:
• While publication of at least one conference and one journal paper, together with participation in at least one conference and active promotion of project results were initially foreseen, scientific publication already exceeded originally planned result for the whole project duration, so research publications remain main dissemination channel and main focus of the participants.
• Moderate promotion was performed at TIL 2021 (paper presented) and SAUM 2021 conferences due to the fact that project budged realization had not started yet back then with unclear prospective regarding COVID pandemic, but this dissemination channel is to be further explored in the second phase.
• Foundation of project web site with informative contents regarding project activities and results has been completed and hosted at the servers of the Mechanical Engineering Faculty Niš at the address http://smsas.masfak.ni.ac.rs/, while establishment of dissemination channels through social media is in progress and will be completed in the next Project phase.
• Dissemination of project results among young researchers of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Niš through internal meetings and mutual work has been established, which resulted in inclusion of them in research activities and their interest in future cooperation of MEF Niš with TU Berlin.
Dissemination through promotional materials such as leaflets and banners and dissemination during open day events among potential and current students is planned for the second phase because quick realization of budget demanded that creation of promotional materials is left for the second budget instalment.

 

 Additional information relevant for Project implementation
 Project implementation suffered heavily from the COVID pandemic, which resulted in several project extensions and postponement of the start of the core project activities. Germany had very strict travel and entry restrictions, which were further complicated by internal regulations of the Technical University Berlin that further restricted entry of foreign researchers to TU Berlin premises due to pandemic. This was followed and complicated by the significant increase in the prices of flights, accommodation, and other travel-related costs. This all demanded severe postponement of the start of budget realization, in order to wait for circumstances where successful Project completion could be reasonably expected. Possible start of the budget spending with later inability to finalize Project was the most serious threat, especially since the Science Fund of Serbia was not in a position to declare Project extensions in advance. In such circumstances the position of the Project team was that the start of the budged spending had to be postponed to the point when prospects for successful completion of Project were reasonably good. After several careful replanning cycles budget spending started in mid 2022, with minimal necessary interventions in Project activities to adapt to significantly higher travel costs than originally planned, mostly regarding duration of travels and stays in Germany. Still, successful completion of the project now seems very likely, provided that second installment of the budget is received in reasonably short time to allow for the following travels to be completed in time.