DATA ACQUISITION FOR ROBOT ASSEMBLY SEMINAR
A series of product design for robot assembly seminars were held at a
UK university. They were well attended and the object of these
seminars was to encourage industrialists to analyse their products,
using a product design for robot assembly computer software
application. The results of these studies were then investigated
by university staff so that handling, gripping and insertion
requirements for robot assembly could be recommended. These seminars
were funded by the ACME directorate as a means of forging closer links
between universities and industry. The results of the studies also gave
direction to future research work at the university in the field of
robot assembly. Interested parties were given a copy of a
computer software application. Industrial product data was stored
in standard ASCII files and this was easily manipulated by staff at the
university. Statistics were produced that indicated trends in
parts geometry and the physical properties of parts. These
statistics showed the relative importance of various pieces of assembly
automation for a cross-section of industrial products and they gave
indicators for future assembly hardware development.
FUTURE WORK
I strongly believe that industry will only demand products and services
if there is a genuine need for either. For this reason, my direction is
heavily influenced by the continuously changing needs of my clients.
Product information (available to clients) and calculated information
(demanded by clients) is monitored through my consultancy
contracts. My approach to the presentation of parts for robot
assembly is changed to best suit the needs of the majority of my
current clients and future clients. The results of the previously
mentioned data acquisition seminars influenced the range of handling
devices included in the database. It was necessary to include other
devices to cater for particular categories of parts, that were thought
to exist in smaller numbers than in reality. The findings also affected
the handling expert system format. The sequence of questions was
altered so that the minimum amount of information was required for the
majority of parts. Later, a consortium of six companies was being
formed to interface the product design for robot assembly software with
a conventional CAD system. The object of this work was to allow a
product designer,using a CAD system, to have the benefit of product
design for assembly running in the background, which only became active
when adverse robotic assembly properties were evident.
CONCLUSIONS
The presentation of parts is a topic often neglected by those
considering robot assembly and yet it accounts for the majority of the
cost for an installation. It is important to be able to describe the
features of a part by the use of a parts classification technique that
is sufficiently comprehensive to fully describe the part, without
involving undue effort, or understanding, from the user. Parts
presentation devices for robot assembly should have a high
general-purpose content and a low special-purpose content. The
orientation of the part during insertion affects the choice of handling
device and the number of robot degrees of freedom. The classification
of a part for handling can be a tedious process and it is important to
only define features that are relevant for the selection of handling
devices. This is best achieved by using an expert system approach and
decision trees. The complex process of handling device selection
can be carried out by computer software applications, thus eliminating
the need to manually carry out many iterative calculations. The types
of handling devices which best suit the needs of industry can be chosen
by asking current and potential industrial users to specify their
particular handling requirements. Most of the information
relating to the design features of products, for robot assembly, can be
extracted from a CAD system database.
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