Assembly with Robots

by Tony. Owen

Overview

In the western world, economic logic (and need) has replaced the indentured craftsman by computer controlled machining centres within manufacturing industries. The same rationale is the incentive behind the development of robots that are technically capable of performing assembly tasks, and the inevitable, albeit slow, adoption of these robots by the manufacturing industries. This book is based upon the author's knowledge and first hand experience of the manufacturing industries of North America and the UK in general, and the UK's robotics industry in particular. The general and specific implications of per­ forming an assembly task robotically are discussed, the majority of which are not specific to anyone sector of the manufactur­ ing industry, nor to any particular size of product being manu­ factured. This book should be of interest to those who are interested in or involved with the use of robots for assembly. The 'veils of mystic' and misinformation on robots and the assembly process are subsequently removed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468415025
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	02/18/2012
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1985
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1: Introduction.- 2: Why use robots?.- Robot versus hard automation.- Robot availability, purchase and viability.- Assessing the robot market.- 3: Which configuration?.- Specialized robots.- Robot capability.- Which programming method?.- Important elements in robot specifications.- 4: Calculation of cycle times.- Methods for calculating cycle time.- Parts trees.- Assessing workload.- 5: Grippers.- Sophisticated gripper versus simple gripper.- Compliance.- Types of grippers.- Gripper design.- Sensory control of grippers.- Gripper classifications.- Multiple robots.- Multiple arm robots.- Multiple grippers.- 6: The assembly process.- Assembly techniques.- 7: Product and process design for assembly.- Product compatibility.- Method of construction.- Fifteen design rules.- 8: Workstations.- The system.- Assembly line balancing.- Balancing a robot line.- Implementation of workstations.- 9: Material feeders.- Automatic feeders.- Feeding delicate items.- Component manufacture at site of usage.- Feeding consumable materials.- Conveyors.- Automated guided vehicles.- Prepackaged material control.- 10: Sensing and vision.- Sensors.- Selecting a suitable sensor.- Automatic inspection.- 11: Man-machine mix.- Interaction between man and machine.- Programming.- Man-robot systems.- 12: Safety.- Humans at risk from injury by robots.- Safety procedures and devices.- Procedural checks.- 13: Evaluation of a robot system.- Methods of financial appraisal.- Strategic and tactical justification.- Productivity ratios.- Robot versus manual cost per hour.- Resource graphs.- Cost groups.- The proposal.- 14: Economics of alternative systems.- Assessing costs.- Equilateral triangle.- Direct calculation.- Benefits and total expected savings.- Systems for a range of quantities.- Flexible and fixed aspects of automated assembly.- 15: Economics of robots and grippers.- The workstation.- The gripper design.- 16: The future.- The short-term outlook.- The long-term outlook.- References and bibliography.- Appendix: Assembly Robots Available in the USA and the UK.