Identifying and Prioritising Future Robot Control Research with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making

The gap between researchers who carry out scientific exploration and practitioners who can make use of the research results is well known. In addition, while practitioners place a high value on research, they do not read many research papers. This paper attempts to define and prioritise future research in robotics using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Fifteen research alternatives and gaps, five performance criteria, eight industry types, and six production processes, investigated by both academics and practitioners, are filtered to six alternatives, four performance criteria, three industry types, and three production processes, respectively, based on the most important factors in decision-making. Subsequently, they are analysed by the Expert Choice software. This research aims at bridging the gap between academics and practitioners in robotics research and at conducting research that is relevant to industry. The results indicate that the research in multi-robot control ranked first with 26.8%, followed by the research in safe control with 23.3% and the research in remote robot supervision with 19.0%. The research in force control ranked fourth with 17.8%, followed by the research in 3D vision and wireless communication with 8.4% and 6.4%, respectively. Based on the results, the academics involved in robotics research should direct their effort to the research activities that received the highest priority in the AHP model

Experimental Investigation on Surface Finish during Turning of Aluminum under Dry and Minimum Quantity Lubrication Machining Conditions

Abstract In the last decades, light materials, such as aluminum, are increasing their use in wide range of industrial applications. The growing use of aluminum encourages the study of its use under different production processes. In this sense, the present study shows an experimental investigation in turning of aluminum, with the use of dry and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) system. To evaluate turning process, continuous bars was used. The process is evaluated taking the surface roughness as response variable. The cutting conditions include feed rate, cutting speed and the coolant flow rate. The work-piece material and its size, the cutting tool (HSS) and the depth of cut were kept constant for the study. It has been observed that a small amount of supply of coolant at the point of cutting, largely improves the surface finish. In many cases further amount of coolant administration has very little effect on the surface quality. Thus Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) can achieve the required surface quality eliminating the problems of flood cooling