Robots and Automated Manufacture

by J. Billingsley

Overview

To serve its purpose, an industrial robot must be harnessed to a manufacturing task, be it welding, assembly, adjustment or the inspection of food products. Complex tasks are likely to require offline programming, both for economy of equipment use and to permit computer simulations for collision avoidance. Vision and other sensory systems are helping to extend the capabilities of robots, while advanced programming techniques are making their use more accessible to the shop floor.

The authors have addressed these and many other subjects in a volume which will be of value to industry and to robotic researchers alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780863410536
Publisher:	The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Publication date:	06/30/1985
Series:	Control, Robotics and Sensors
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

For twenty years and more, John Billingsley's research has concerned the exploitation of on-line computer systems. In Cambridge he led a team pioneering the use of multiple linked single-board minicomputers for control system simulation and for research into the optimisation of hierarchical systems. He now heads a robotics group at Portsmouth Polytechnic researching into such topics as the 'Craftsman Robot' for intelligent adjustment of a factory product, and the development of a six-legged mobile robot base. He maintains a close contact with industry, and a number of his designs are in regular production.

A member of several IEE committees, he has organised many colloquia concerning robotics and microcomputer applications. He is the author of two books on experimental robotics for microcomputer enthusiasts, and for some years has organised the Euromouse Maze contest, for small robot vehicles. He has been a consultant to the BBC television series 'The Computer Programme', and to Thames Television's 'Database'.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: A novel steering mechanism for legged robots
• Chapter 2: The use of simulation in the off-line programming of robots
• Chapter 3: The practical problems involved in off-line programming a robot from a CAD system
• Chapter 4: The application of rule based methods to inspection and quality control in a manufacturing process
• Chapter 5: Automatic location editing of assembly robot programs
• Chapter 6: Dynamic analysis of industrial robots using decentralised control via kinematics
• Chapter 7: Collision avoidance between robots operating in the same cell
• Chapter 8: Flexible automated assembly systems
• Chapter 9: Autonomous assembly devices and related control strategies
• Chapter 10: An aid to effective off-line programming of assembly robots
• Chapter 11: Robot force sensing using stochastic monitoring of the actuator torque
• Chapter 12: Precise measurement of radial dimensions in automatic visual inspection and quality control-a new approach
• Chapter 13: Visual feedback control for orientating parts in an assembly robot cycle
• Chapter 14: Automation and robotisation in welding-the UK scene
• Chapter 15: Practical industrial low cost vision for welding robots and automated welding machines
• Chapter 16: A high-speed pattern recognition system for robotic applications
• Chapter 17: A vision system for the identification of motor car headlamp reflectors for robotic assembly