The strategic evolution of the robotics industry

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1983.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY.Includes bibliographical references.by David Schatz.M.S

Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing: The Human-Data-Technology Nexus

This is an open access book. It gathers the first volume of the proceedings of the 31st edition of the International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM 2022, held on June 19 – 23, 2022, in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Covering four thematic areas including Manufacturing Processes, Machine Tools, Manufacturing Systems, and Enabling Technologies, it reports on advanced manufacturing processes, and innovative materials for 3D printing, applications of machine learning, artificial intelligence and mixed reality in various production sectors, as well as important issues in human-robot collaboration, including methods for improving safety. Contributions also cover strategies to improve quality control, supply chain management and training in the manufacturing industry, and methods supporting circular supply chain and sustainable manufacturing. All in all, this book provides academicians, engineers and professionals with extensive information on both scientific and industrial advances in the converging fields of manufacturing, production, and automation

Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing: The Human-Data-Technology Nexus

This is an open access book. It gathers the first volume of the proceedings of the 31st edition of the International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM 2022, held on June 19 – 23, 2022, in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Covering four thematic areas including Manufacturing Processes, Machine Tools, Manufacturing Systems, and Enabling Technologies, it reports on advanced manufacturing processes, and innovative materials for 3D printing, applications of machine learning, artificial intelligence and mixed reality in various production sectors, as well as important issues in human-robot collaboration, including methods for improving safety. Contributions also cover strategies to improve quality control, supply chain management and training in the manufacturing industry, and methods supporting circular supply chain and sustainable manufacturing. All in all, this book provides academicians, engineers and professionals with extensive information on both scientific and industrial advances in the converging fields of manufacturing, production, and automation

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 258)

This bibliography lists 308 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in April 1984

An intelligent knowledge based cost modelling system for innovative product development

This research work aims to develop an intelligent knowledge-based system for product cost modelling and design for automation at an early design stage of the product development cycle, that would enable designers/manufacturing planners to make more accurate estimates of the product cost. Consequently, a quicker response to customers’ expectations. The main objectives of the research are to: (1) develop a prototype system that assists an inexperienced designer to estimate the manufacturing cost of the product, (2) advise designers on how to eliminate design and manufacturing related conflicts that may arise during the product development process, (3) recommend the most economic assembly technique for the product in order to consider this technique during the design process and provide design improvement suggestions to simplify the assembly operations (i.e. to provide an opportunity for designers to design for assembly (DFA)), (4) apply a fuzzy logic approach to certain cases, and (5) evaluate the developed prototype system through five case studies. The developed system for cost modelling comprises of a CAD solid modelling system, a material selection module, knowledge-based system (KBS), process optimisation module, design for assembly module, cost estimation technique module, and a user interface. In addition, the system encompasses two types of databases, permanent (static) and temporary (dynamic). These databases are categorised into five separate groups of database, Feature database, Material database, Machinability database, Machine database, and Mould database. The system development process has passed through four major steps: firstly, constructing the knowledge-based and process optimisation system, secondly developing a design for assembly module. Thirdly, integrating the KBS with both material selection database and a CAD system. Finally, developing and implementing a ii fuzzy logic approach to generate reliable estimation of cost and to handle the uncertainty in cost estimation model that cannot be addressed by traditional analytical methods. The developed system has, besides estimating the total cost of a product, the capability to: (1) select a material as well as the machining processes, their sequence and machining parameters based on a set of design and production parameters that the user provides to the system, and (2) recommend the most economic assembly technique for a product and provide design improvement suggestion, in the early stages of the design process, based on a design feasibility technique. It provides recommendations when a design cannot be manufactured with the available manufacturing resources and capabilities. In addition, a feature-by-feature cost estimation report was generated using the system to highlight the features of high manufacturing cost. The system can be applied without the need for detailed design information, so that it can be implemented at an early design stage and consequently cost redesign, and longer lead-time can be avoided. One of the tangible advantages of this system is that it warns users of features that are costly and difficult to manufacture. In addition, the system is developed in such a way that, users can modify the product design at any stage of the design processes. This research dealt with cost modelling of both machined components and injection moulded components. The developed cost effective design environment was evaluated on real products, including a scientific calculator, a telephone handset, and two machined components. Conclusions drawn from the system indicated that the developed prototype system could help companies reducing product cost and lead time by estimating the total product cost throughout the entire product development cycle including assembly cost. Case studies demonstrated that designing a product using the developed system is more cost effective than using traditional systems. The cost estimated for a number of products used in the case studies was almost 10 to 15% less than cost estimated by the traditional system since the latter does not take into consideration process optimisation, design alternatives, nor design for assembly issue

Semisolid forging of steel components for automotive industry

Nowadays, globalisation enables a rapid uptake of the classical manufacturing and production technologies, thus making it much harder for European companies to compete with low labour costs of emerging countries. In order to remain competitive, these factories, such as OEM´s and automotive companies, have to either relocate their main production to low labour cost countries or invest in innovative production processes; in so doing they mainly allow lowering raw material consumption and production time while they perform high quality components. In this industrial framework, with the current trend in prices of raw material and their sources, near net shaping of mechanical components will become a key factor to get the desired competitiveness. Semisolid metal (SSM) forging is one of those near net shape techniques. It presents several advantages, such as energy efficiency, production rates, smooth die filling and low shrinkage porosity, which together lead to near net shape capability and thus to fewer manufacturing steps than in classical methods. The foregoing advantages have been tried and tested in the semisolid forging cell developed and implemented at the forming laboratory of Mondragon Unibertsitatea. The high quality components, obtained in a single step, show that thixo-lateral forging of steels is a robust and highly repeatable forming process with a great surface finishing and much more remarked details. Material savings of the 20% have been reported together with a substantial decrease of the forming forces. In addition, great mechanical properties have been achieved which brings the process closer to the desired final industrial application.Gaur egun bizi dugun globalizazio egoerak ekoizpen prozesuen hedapen eta arrakasta azkarra ahalbidetzen du, enpresa Europearren lehiakortasuna oztopatuz garapen bidean dauden herrialdeen aurrean. Lehiakorrak izaten jarraitzeko bide bakarra ekoizpen kostu txikiagoa duten lurraldetara deslokalizatzea edo ekoizpen prozesu berritzaileak ikertzea da. Azken honen bitartez jatorrizko materialen kontsumoa jaitsi eta ekoizpena handituko litzateke, beti ere ekoiztutako elementuen kalitatea mantenduz edo hobetuz. Ingurune industrial honetan, material eta energien prezioak etengabe gorantz doazela, ’near net shape‘ ekoizpen prozesuak lehiakortasuna berreskuratzeko funtsezko giltzarri izan daitezke. Teknika horietako bat da, hain zuzen, solido eta likido artean egindako konformaketa. Bere ezaugarri nagusia, soberakinik gabeko azken geometria lortzeko gaitasuna, dituen abantail guztien baturak ematen dio; eraginkortasun energetikoak, ekoizpen mailak, moldeak betetzeko duen era leunak eta uzkurtze porositate baxuak. Honi esker, azken piezak lortzeko prozesu klasikoek baino pauso gutxiago behar ditu prozesu erdisolidoak. Guzti hau frogatu eta egiaztatu da Mondragon Unibertsitateko ekoizpen laborategian beren beregi garatu eta ezarri den forja erdisolidorako zelulan. Bertan pauso bakarrean lortutako piezen kalitateak erakusten duen bezala, altzairuen forja erdisolidoa prozesu sendo eta errepikagarria da, xehetasunak zehazki erakusten dituena. Lortutako emaitzek % 20-ko material aurrezpenak erakusten dituzte formaketa indarren gutxitze nabarmen batekin batera. Gainera, piezen ezaugarri mekaniko bikainek azken helburu den prozesuaren industrializazioa gerturatzen dute.La globalización ha facilitado la rápida difusión y aceptación de los clásicos procesos de fabricación, lastrando la competitividad de las compañías Europeas frente a la de los países emergentes. Para seguir siendo competitivas, dichas empresas, deben deslocalizarse a países con menores costes de fabricación o investigar en procesos y productos innovadores que permitan disminuir el consumo de materias primas y el tiempo de fabricación, manteniendo, o incluso incrementando, la calidad de los componentes finales. En este entorno industrial, con la imparable tendencia al alza del precio de las materias primas y la energía, la fabricación ’near net shape‘ puede resultar un factor clave en la recuperación de la deseada competitividad. El conformado semisólido es precisamente una de ésas técnicas ’near net shape‘. En conjunto, su eficiencia energética, productividad, llenado de las huellas y baja porosidad le confieren la capacidad para obtener componentes con geometria final lo que significa reducir pasos de fabricación respecto a los procesos tradicionales. Esto es precisamente lo que se ha probado y demostrado en la célula de forja semisólida diseñada e implementada en el laboratorio de conformado de Mondragon Unibertsitatea. La calidad de los componentes obtenidos en un solo paso demuestra que la forja semisólida de acero es un proceso robusto y repetible con un excelente acabado superficial y detalles mucho más definidos. Ha permitido un ahorro de material del 20% junto con una disminución considerable de los esfuerzos de conformado. Además, las excelentes propiedades mecanicas obtenidas permiten acercar aún más el proceso al objetivo final, su industrialización

Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS 1994), volume 1

The AIAA/NASA Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS '94) was originally proposed because of the strong belief that America's problems of global economic competitiveness and job creation and preservation can partly be solved by the use of intelligent robotics, which are also required for human space exploration missions. Individual sessions addressed nuclear industry, agile manufacturing, security/building monitoring, on-orbit applications, vision and sensing technologies, situated control and low-level control, robotic systems architecture, environmental restoration and waste management, robotic remanufacturing, and healthcare applications

Tool flow management in batch manufacturing systems for cylindrical components

The objective of the research is to study the design of and operating strategies for advanced tool flow systems in highly automated turning systems. A prototype workstation has been built to aid this process. The thesis consists of three main parts. In the first part the current flexible manufacturing technology is reviewed with emphasis laid on tool flow and production scheduling problems. The 'State-of-the-Art' turning systems are studied, to highlight the requirement of the computer modelling of tool flow systems. In the second part, the design of a computer model using fast modelling algorithms is reported. The model design has concentrated on the tool flow system performance forecasting and improving. Attention has been given to the full representation of highly automatic features evident in turning systems. A number of contemporary production scheduling rules have been incorporated into the computer model structure, with the objectives of providing a frontend to the tool flow model, and to examine the tool flow problems interactively with the production scheduling rules. The user-interface of the model employs conversational type screens for tool flow network specification and data handling, which enhances its user friendliness greatly. An effective, fast, and easy to handle data base management system for tool, part, machine data entries has been· built up to facilitate the model performance. The third part of the thesis is concerned with the validation and application of the model with industry supplied data to examine system performance, and to evaluate alternative strategies. Conclusions drawn from this research and the recommendations for further work are finally indicated