Timo Salmi

2D CAD based robot programming for processing metal profiles in short series manufacturing

Fast robot programming is a requirement for efficient, flexible and reconfigurable short series manufacturing processes. This paper presents a model based robot programming concept for applications where metal profiles are processed by robots and only a 2D geometrical representation of the workobject - or product billet - is available. The robot is programmed mainly through the 2D CAD drawing of the product billet by adding the process-related information such as bending- and cutting lines, angles and plate thickness. This enables the automatic extension of the model into 3D-space and calculating the sparse set of tool path tag points for the robot. The concept also considers the joint limits of the robot while interpolating the robot motions to full paths. This is achieved by dividing the complete path into segments and adjusting the product billet location and tag point configurations within the path. The segmentation of the path is done in an offline programming environment that also enables collision checking and path correctness verification. The concept is evaluated and tested in a simulation environment and in a real robot testing environment.

Meeting New Challenges and Possibilities with Modern Robot Safety Technologies

In recent years, human-robot co-operation has been of increasing interest in research, and new types of modern safety technology have emerged on the market. These include safety sensors, machine vision based safety systems, laser sensors and safety controllers for robots. The new technology enables flexible fenceless safety systems and dynamic safety regions alongside a host of other attractive features for human-robot co-operation. The safety systems can also be integrated into a transferable robotic platform. While this modern technology opens up wholly new possibilities, it also creates new and fairly complex challenges in safety design. This paper introduces some case examples of handling these challenges.

A concept for isles of automation: Ubiquitous robot cell for flexible manufacturing

In this paper, we present a concept for short series production using industrial robots and advanced control systems. We call and define this system as ldquoisles of automationrdquo. The concept is beyond the current robot workcells by the properties of flexibility, reconfigurability, context awareness and programmability. In the concept, there are modules defined for programming, sensing, material handling and flow as well as communication. The overall architecture defines how these modules are working together. In this paper, we present these modules and illustrate the operation in the pilot case.

TOWARDS SHORT SERIES PRODUCTION: ROBOT–BASED FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING WITH INTELLIGENT SENSING

Abstract This paper presents a sensor-based concept to carry out short series production with robots. Intelligent sensing extends our approach from earlier reported work towards truly flexible robotic production. A modern industrial robot provides an excellent, easy to adjust platform to flexible, reconfigurable production. In our concept we consider four main steps: sensing planning, motion planning, calibration and on-line adaptation. All these are critical steps in flexible robot –based manufacturing. These steps are explained in details with pilot examples cases in laboratory or industrial environments.

Human-Robot Collaboration and Sensor-Based Robots in Industrial Applications and Construction

This paper presents technologies for human-robot collaborative and sensor-based applications for robotics in construction. Principles, safety and control technologies of human-robot collaboration are outlined and sensor-assisted control of industrial robots as well as a dynamic safety system for industrial robots are described in more details. Applicability of sensor-based robotics in building construction and potential of robotics in building construction in general are also evaluated.

Resource sharing method among multiple production systems to reduce initial investment for inverse manufacturing

The objective of this study is to propose a resource sharing method among multiple production systems to reduce initial investment for inverse manufacturing. To this end, this paper introduces a transferability benefit index (TBI), the ratio of the benefits to difficulties, to identify the most promising resources for sharing among multiple production systems. This papers also provides a simplified example calculation to illustrate the method and discuss its result and the future development needs of the methods.

Man-Robot Cooperation — New Technologies and New Solutions

In this paper we present technologies that enable man-robot cooperation. Several robots are presented that are capable of working safely around humans. Software and sensor-based safety systems are also discussed. We review the regulations and robot standards which determine the construction of today’s robot solutions. Finally, we present a few concept man-robot solutions in assembly cells from a safety perspective.