Digitisation of a moving assembly operation using multiple depth imaging sensors

Several manufacturing operations continue to be manual even in today’s highly automated industry because the complexity of such operations makes them heavily reliant on human skills, intellect and experience. This work aims to aid the automation of one such operation, the wheel loading operation on the trim and final moving assembly line in automotive production. It proposes a new method that uses multiple low-cost depth imaging sensors, commonly used in gaming, to acquire and digitise key shopfloor data associated with the operation, such as motion characteristics of the vehicle body on the moving conveyor line and the angular positions of alignment features of the parts to be assembled, in order to inform an intelligent automation solution. Experiments are conducted to test the performance of the proposed method across various assembly conditions, and the results are validated against an industry standard method using laser tracking. Some disadvantages of the method are discussed, and suggestions for improvements are suggested. The proposed method has the potential to be adopted to enable the automation of a wide range of moving assembly operations in multiple sectors of the manufacturing industry

Intralogistics and industry 4.0: designing a novel shuttle with picking system

Intralogistics is increasingly a matter of research and development as a form of optimization, automation, integration and management of the flow of materials and information that circulate within a business unit. With a strong connection to material handling equipment and automation solutions, intralogistics has proved to be one of the main factors responsible for something that is already happening: a fourth industrial revolution where it is possible to convert warehouses and manufacturing units into smart environments where the entire process can be controlled and supervised through a single system. It became necessary to develop more innovative and efficient solutions to the constant diversity of challenges proposed by the market. In this sense, it was proposed to develop something innovative within the area of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS), a technology increasingly sought after by today's manufacturing plants. As such, the goal was to improve the most emergent AS/RS in recent years: the Pallet/Box Shuttle AS/RS. In order to achieve the proposed objective, it was necessary to analyze all the existing solutions in the market and, mainly, to find the main systems to be improved and the direction to follow in order to create a novel solution based on the existing advanced solutions. Moreover, regarding the recent needs required by the smart factories and Industry 4.0, it was intended that the new system would be able to make an optimized selection of products, forming sets or sub-sets of different products picking them from different places of the rack, a situation that is quite frequent in companies that produce and assemble equipment. The solution obtained shows that it is possible to increase the automation of the operations in the storage systems and improve the responsiveness of the system, taking this solution to a new level. Different products can be picked-up and put in a same box, providing a set of products/components able to be used in a production line or to be provided to a customer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A framework for flexible and reconfigurable vision inspection systems

Reconfiguration activities remain a significant challenge for automated Vision Inspection Systems (VIS), which are characterized by hardware rigidity and time-consuming software programming tasks. This work contributes to overcoming the current gap in VIS reconfigurability by proposing a novel framework based on the design of Flexible Vision Inspection Systems (FVIS), enabling a Reconfiguration Support System (RSS). FVIS is achieved using reprogrammable hardware components that allow for easy setup based on software commands. The RSS facilitates offline software programming by extracting parameters from real images, Computer-Aided Design (CAD) data, and rendered images using Automatic Feature Recognition (AFR). The RSS offers a user-friendly interface that guides non-expert users through the reconfiguration process for new part types, eliminating the need for low-level coding. The proposed framework has been practically validated during a 4-year collaboration with a global leading automotive half shaft manufacturer. A fully automated FVIS and the related RSS have been designed following the proposed framework and are currently implemented in 7 plants of GKN global automotive supplier, checking 60 defect types on thousands of parts per day, covering more than 200 individual part types and 12 part families

A flexible manufacturing system for lawnmower cutting cylinders

The thesis is concerned with the conception and design of a FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM (FMS) for the automation of the manufacture of lawnmower cutting cylinders at Suffolk Lawnmowers Ltd. A review of FMS definitions, planning methods and current systems is carried out for the development of a suitable FMS configuration for the final stages of manufacture of grass cutting cylinders having 21 different design specifications. This involves examination of the capabilities of robotics and microcontrollers to automate the technologies used in cylinder production. The company's current manual batch production system is analysed to determine the suitable form and requirements of the FMS. This includes analyses of annual volumes, throughputs, batch sizes, product and process mixes. Long term objectives to automate the system are identified from which short term objectives are derived. The FMS recommended for immediate development encompasses the short term objectives for the welding, hardening, grinding and transfer processes of 8 cutting cylinder specifications. It is shown that the MIG (Argon/C02) are welding, progressive flame hardening and wide-face cylindrical grinding processes can be developed successfully to automate cylinder production. The recommended system integrates these processes into an FMS through the'automatic handling of cylinders (through three process routes) by a robotic manipulator utilising a double gripper. 'A robotic welding station, manually loaded, is also recommended. ' The system is controlled overall by a 32K microcontroller with the process machines individually controlled by programmahle logic controllers with up to 6K of memory each. The economic appraisal of the FMS indicates a 4.4 year payback based on direct labour and material cost savings. The company's application for grant aid to implement the FMS design has led to an offer of a Department of Industry grant to cover 50% of all capital and revenue costs. The grant of £166,943 reduces the payback period to 2.3 years

Design and development of autonomous guided vehicle (AGV)

The technologies running fast we ever imagined before. The implementation of computer chip can be seen anywhere in every parts of this world. Humans are looking for automatic system that will make their life easier. This paper describes a project of design and development of autonomous guided vehicle (AGV). An AGV is a vehicle that uses no operator to drive that often used in material transportation in an automated production line or in automatic storage and retrieval system. This AGV running through the electronic programmed to drive the material or parts product to the specific destination. Sometimes this vehicle programmed to move to follow the line on the floor. This project required the student to build a prototype of an AGV in smaller scale but have the basic function as the real AGV where this prototype of AGV are able to move to the specific workstations and waiting for the task to accomplished. This project requested to complete the process of technical study, design, analysis, parts machining, assembly as well as testing and refinement of an AGV in the two-semester course. The four-wheeled AGY is driven by a stepper motor, move and steered by a different rotation of the motor. This AGV controlled by PlC microcontroller and TJLN2803AG integrated circuit. Through this project, students are able to learn how to innovate the technological product through the small scopes of project

The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected

Sustainable supply chain management in the digitalisation era: The impact of Automated Guided Vehicles

Internationalization of markets and climate change introduce multifaceted challenges for modern supply chain (SC) management in the today's digitalisation era. On the other hand, Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) systems have reached an age of maturity that allows for their utilization towards tackling dynamic market conditions and aligning SC management focus with sustainability considerations. However, extant research only myopically tackles the sustainability potential of AGVs, focusing more on addressing network optimization problems and less on developing integrated and systematic methodological approaches for promoting economic, environmental and social sustainability. To that end, the present study provides a critical taxonomy of key decisions for facilitating the adoption of AGV systems into SC design and planning, as these are mapped on the relevant strategic, tactical and operational levels of the natural hierarchy. We then propose the Sustainable Supply Chain Cube (S2C2), a conceptual tool that integrates sustainable SC management with the proposed hierarchical decision-making framework for AGVs. Market opportunities and the potential of integrating AGVs into a SC context with the use of the S2C2 tool are further discussed

Robotics and automated systems in construction: Understanding industry-specific challenges for adoption

© 2019 The Authors The construction industry is a major economic sector, but it is plagued with inefficiencies and low productivity. Robotics and automated systems have the potential to address these shortcomings; however, the level of adoption in the construction industry is very low. This paper presents an investigation into the industry-specific factors that limit the adoption in the construction industry. A mixed research method was employed combining literature review, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Three focus groups with 28 experts and an online questionnaire were conducted. Principal component and correlation analyses were conducted to group the identified factors and find hidden correlations. The main identified challenges were grouped into four categories and ranked in order of importance: contractor-side economic factors, client-side economic factors, technical and work-culture factors, and weak business case factors. No strong correlation was found among factors. This study will help stakeholders to understand the main industry-specific factors limiting the adoption of robotics and automated systems in the construction industry. The presented findings will support stakeholders to devise mitigation strategies

A framework for digitisation of manual manufacturing task knowledge using gaming interface technology

Intense market competition and the global skill supply crunch are hurting the manufacturing industry, which is heavily dependent on skilled labour. Companies must look for innovative ways to acquire manufacturing skills from their experts and transfer them to novices and eventually to machines to remain competitive. There is a lack of systematic processes in the manufacturing industry and research for cost-effective capture and transfer of human skills. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop a framework for digitisation of manual manufacturing task knowledge, a major constituent of which is human skill. The proposed digitisation framework is based on the theory of human-workpiece interactions that is developed in this research. The unique aspect of the framework is the use of consumer-grade gaming interface technology to capture and record manual manufacturing tasks in digital form to enable the extraction, decoding and transfer of manufacturing knowledge constituents that are associated with the task. The framework is implemented, tested and refined using 5 case studies, including 1 toy assembly task, 2 real-life-like assembly tasks, 1 simulated assembly task and 1 real-life composite layup task. It is successfully validated based on the outcomes of the case studies and a benchmarking exercise that was conducted to evaluate its performance. This research contributes to knowledge in five main areas, namely, (1) the theory of human-workpiece interactions to decipher human behaviour in manual manufacturing tasks, (2) a cohesive and holistic framework to digitise manual manufacturing task knowledge, especially tacit knowledge such as human action and reaction skills, (3) the use of low-cost gaming interface technology to capture human actions and the effect of those actions on workpieces during a manufacturing task, (4) a new way to use hidden Markov modelling to produce digital skill models to represent human ability to perform complex tasks and (5) extraction and decoding of manufacturing knowledge constituents from the digital skill models