Flexible manufacturing system utilizing computer integrated control and modeling

In today\u27s fast-automated production, Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) play a very important role by processing a variety of different types of workpieces simultaneously. This study provides valuable information about existing FMS workcells and brings to light a unique concept called Programmable Automation. Another integrated concept of programmable automation that is discussed is the use of two feasibility approaches towards modeling and controlling FMS operations; the most commonly used is programmable logic controllers (PLC), and the other one, which has not yet implemented in many industrial applications is Petri Net controllers (PN). This latter method is a unique powerful technique to study and analyze any production line or any facility, and it can be used in many other applications of automatic control. Programmable Automation uses a processor in conventional metal working machines to perform certain tasks through program instructions. Drilling, milling and chamfering machines are good examples for such automation. Keeping the above issues in concem; this research focuses on other core components that are used in the FMS workcell at New Jersey Institute of Technology, such as; industrial robots, material handling system and finally computer vision

Automation of chamfering by an industrial robot; for the case of machined hole on a cylindrical workpiece

金沢大学工学部The study deals with the automatic chamfering for the case of a machined hole on a cylinder on the basis of CAD data, using an industrial robot. As a chamfering tool, a rotary-bar driven by an electric motor is mounted to the arm of the robot having six degrees of freedom in order to give an arbitrary position and attitude to the tool. The robot control command converted from the chamfering path is transmitted directly to the robot. From the experimental results, the system is found effective to remove a burr along the edge of a hole on a cylindrical metallic workpiece

Automaattisen robottityösolun suunnittelu – vaihtoehtojen vertailu

The purpose of this thesis was to research the possibilities of adding automation on the product finalization stage of the production of plastic products in Finncont Oy. At the beginning of this thesis work practically all of the finalization work was conducted manually with mostly hand held tools. On the same time, the company was starting to feel pressure to automate some of the production processes; partly due to financial concerns and partly due to company image concerns. Some customers had even expressed their wishes for more automation in Finncont’s production system. During the project, product and production system analysis was conducted on the products of Finncont Oy. The analysis included reviewing product data such as drawings and work instructions and production data, mainly production volumes. A time study was performed for 10 most potential products. Concurrently to the product analysis a literature review was conducted on production systems, layouts and production processes. Based on the results of the product analysis and the literature review, two product groups were formed and three work cell designs were made. Two for group 1 and one for group 2

The Federal Conference on Intelligent Processing Equipment

Research and development projects involving intelligent processing equipment within the following U.S. agencies are addressed: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Emergency Management Agency, NASA, National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation

Control of the interaction of a gantry robot end effector with the environment by the adaptive behaviour of its joint drive actuators

The thesis examines a way in which the performance of the robot electric actuators can be precisely and accurately force controlled where there is a need for maintaining a stable specified contact force with an external environment. It describes the advantages of the proposed research, which eliminates the need for any external sensors and solely depends on the precise torque control of electric motors. The aim of the research is thus the development of a software based control system and then a proposal for possible inclusion of this control philosophy in existing range of automated manufacturing techniques.The primary aim of the research is to introduce force controlled behaviour in the electric actuators when the robot interacts with the environment, by measuring and controlling the contact forces between them. A software control system is developed and implemented on a robot gantry manipulator to follow two dimensional contours without the explicit geometrical knowledge of those contours. The torque signatures from the electric actuators are monitored and maintained within a desired force band. The secondary aim is the optimal design of the software controller structure. Experiments are performed and the mathematical model is validated against conventional Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control. Fuzzy control is introduced in the software architecture to incorporate a sophisticated control. Investigation is carried out with the combination of PID and Fuzzy logic which depend on the geometrical complexity of the external environment to achieve the expected results

Resource selection and route generation in discrete manufacturing environment

When put to various sources, the question of which sequence of operations and machines is best for producing a particular component will often receive a wide range of answers. When the factors of optimum cutting conditions, minimum time, minimum cost, and uniform equipment utilisation are added to the equation, the range of answers becomes even more extensive. Many of these answers will be 'correct', however only one can be the best or optimum solution. When a process planner chooses a route and the accompanying machining conditions for a job, he will often rely on his experience to make the choice. Clearly, a manual generation of routes does not take all the important considerations into account. The planner may not be aware of all the factors and routes available to him. A large workshop might have hundreds of possible routes, even if he did know it all', he will never be able to go through all the routes and calculate accurately which is the most suitable for each process - to do this, something faster is required. This thesis describes the design and implementation of an Intelligent Route Generator. The aim is to provide the planner with accurate calculations of all possible production routes m a factory. This will lead up to the selection of an optimum solution according to minimum cost and time. The ultimate goal will be the generation of fast decisions based on expert information. Background knowledge of machining processes and machine tools was initially required, followed by an identification of the role of the knowledge base and the database within the system. An expert system builder. Crystal, and a database software package, DBase III Plus, were chosen for the project. Recommendations for possible expansion of and improvements to the expert system have been suggested for future development

A study of the polishing process of a turbine blade for automation

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review

Research and Development projects in automation for the Space Station are discussed. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based automation technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics. AI technology will also be developed for the servicing of satellites at the Space Station, system monitoring and diagnosis, space manufacturing, and the assembly of large space structures

Integrating sensors and actuators for robotic assembly

This thesis addresses the problem of integrating sensors and actuators for closed-loop control of a robotic assembly cell. In addition to the problems of interfacing the physical components of the work-cell, the difficulties of representing sensory feedback at a high level within the robot control program are investigated. A new level of robot programming, called sensor-level programming, is introduced. In this, the movements of the actuators are not given explicitly, but rather are inferred by the programming system to achieve new sensor conditions given by the programmer.Control of each sensor and actuator is distributed through a master-slave hierarchy, with each sensor and actuator having its own slave controller. A protocol for information interchange between each controller and the master is defined. If possible, the control of the kinematics of a robot arm is achieved through the manufacturer's existing control system. Under these circumstances, the actuator slave would be acting as aninterface between the generic command codes issued from the central controller, and the syntax of the corresponding control instructions required by the commercial system.Sensor information is preprocessed in the sensor slaves and a set of high-level descriptors, called attributes, are sent to the central controller. Closed-loop control is achieved on the basis of these attributes.The processing of sensor information which is corrupted by noise is investigated. Sources of sensor noise are identified and new algorithms are developed to quantify the noise based on information obtained from the closed-loop servoing. Once the relative magnitudes of the system andmeasurement noise have been estimated, a Kalman filter is used to weight the sensor information and hence reduce the credibility given to noisy sensors; in the limit ignoring the information completely. The improvements in system performance by processing the sensor information in this way are demonstrated.The sensor-level representation and automatic error processing are embedded in a software control system, which can be used to interface commercial systems as well as purpose-built devices. An'industrial research project associated with the lay-up of carbon-fibre provides anexample of its operation.A list of publications resulting from the work in this thesis is given in Appendix E