Self-maintenance and engineering immune systems: Towards smarter machines and manufacturing systems

This paper discusses the state-of-the-art research in the areas of self-maintenance and engineering immune systems (EIS) for machines with smarter adaptability to operating regime changes in future manufacturing systems. Inspired by the biological immune and nervous systems, the authors are introducing the transformation of prognostics and health management (PHM) to engineering immune systems (EIS). First, an overview on PHM is introduced. Its transformation toward resilient systems, self-maintenance systems, and engineering immune systems is also discussed. Finally, new concepts in developing future biological-based smarter machines based on autonomic computing and cloud computing are discussed.