The introduction of robots in the manufacturing industry her the face of the manufacturing industry. The robot specific at activity in the production and manufacturing settings. They are usually applied to carry out at that are dangerous activities which are unsuitable for human workers, for instance, the repetitious work that can cause boredom and at the same time lead to injuries because of the inattentiveness of the worker (Jamshidi, 2013, p. 281).

Robots that are used in industries able to greatly enhance the quality of the products. Applications of the reports I usually carried out with superior and repeatability on every job. This level of liability can be a challenge to accomplish by any other method. Robots are regularly being upgraded but some of the most precise reported today have a repeatability of +/- 0.02mm. For a long time robots have been known to increase the safety at the workplaces.

Handling of materials is the most common activity carried out by the robots in the manufacturing cycle. Robots for handling materials can I automate some of the most tedious and save and mind-numbing activities in a production cycle (Dauchez, 2016, p. 193). The term material handling refers too many activities that are carried out in the production line such as; selection loading and unloading, packing, palletizing and machine feeding.

With the adoption of the robots into the production line, there is always decreased production costs. A quick return on the investments outweighs the initial setup costs. With the robots, throughput speeds increases, which directly affect the production. There are other ways through which the adoption of the robots into the production line reduces the cost of production such as reducing the number of workers who are required in the production line. The adoption of the robots is helping in reducing the number of tools and equipment required in the production line. A robot can be able to perform a task which was to be performed by some workers with many types of equipment.

With the introduction of robots into the manufacturing system. The potential to revolutionise Production line is growing at a fast rate (Pedro Neto, 2013, p. 326). The application of reports in manufacturing processes is usually practised in surface machining such as grinding, cutting among other processes. Surface processing with robots is programmed with geometry CAD models. The tools used by these reports may be applied in elasticity configuration.

Application of robots in manufacturing

Welding robots provide, reach, efficiency, speed, load capacity and improved performance for the welding parts of all sizes and shapes, and usually, they support a wide range of the intelligent functions such as ready-to-use robotic vision and collision avoidance. The figure below shows a welding robot in action.

The assembly operations comprise 10 per cent of the robots that are used in the manufacturing process; this includes fixing, inserting, press-fitting and the disassembling. This group of the robots in manufacturing has dramatically diminished due to the introduction of different technologies such as force-torque sensors and the tactile sensors which gives more sensation to the robots (Miller, 2017, p. 163).

When it comes to assembling parts, assembly robots move faster with greater precision than human works, and off-the-shelf tools can be adopted quicker than with the special equipment. An assembly robot is easily reconfigured and is a slow –risk investment which satisfies the demand s of the manufacturing, quality and the finance all at the same time.

Assembly robots can be fitted with vision systems and force sensing. The vision system usually guides the robot to be able to pick up an element from a conveyor, eliminating or reducing the need for precise location of the part; visual serving allows the robot to rotate or move a component to make it possible to fit with another component. The force sensing trait of the robots assists with the part assembly operations such as giving the robot controller feedback on how the parts should fit together or the amount of force which is required to be applied and insertion (Moreira, 2011, p. 237). In general, sensing technologies are making assembly robots to be more efficient.

The dispensing robots are usually used for glueing, painting, spraying and applying adhesive. It is estimated that 4% of the industrial robots are carrying out the dispensing activities. The dispensing robots offer greater control over the placement of fluids, which include, circles, beads, arcs and repeated timed dots. The advantages of the dispensing robots include the reduced manufacturing time, enhanced product quality and consistent accuracy over the rough surface and uneven surface.

The dispensing robots are available for the 1-part and 2-part materials. The XYZ gantry robot system applies adhesive, lubricants and sealants with the precision placement directly onto the parts having repeatable accuracy. The robots are usually used for high payload and high-speed application.

This kind of robots can be used to form-in-place gaskets, apply adhesive and the spray coatings. The figure below shows a robot which is used for the application of adhesives.

The key component of an automated dispensing system is the personal computer, the robot and the dispensing valve components (Asfahl, 2010, p. 37). The robot implements a computer program for dispensing the fluid from the valve in a specific pattern onto the workpiece.

The fluid is usually dispensed through the valve system, which may be contact or non- contact. Contact dispensing requires that the dispensing tip is placed close to the part. On the systems which include a CCD camera, the robot can be used automatically to adjust the dispensing program for each workpiece, allowing for the variations in the workpieces orientation. To accomplish this, the software compares the current workpiece location.

Most of the manufactures finish their products through cutting, grinding, sanding, deburring, routing or polishing. The material removal robots can be used to refine product surface, the use of harsh abrasive techniques to smooth out the steel to the most precise spot removal for the small parts such as the jewellery. The robot material removal is known to increase the cycle times and the production rates at the same time perfecting the company’s products. Through the automation of the material removal process, manufacturers also enhance the safety level in their working places through the protection of the workers from dangerous fumes and dust which are usually caused by the material removal applications.

The robot-based inspection systems are increasing at a very fast rate such as the vision system become increasingly flexible and powerful at the same time hence, allowing for the detection of flaws on the parts, this guarantees correct assembly of the parts. The vision system finds and inspects a part accurately (Tzafestas, 2014, p. 186). Most significant integrator have to make sure of getting a very good positional accuracy and communicating that back to the robot quickly.

The robot inspection is currently used in measuring components, but as tolerance gets tighter, these tolerance becomes much to complex to be achieved. The robots usually move from the verifying a part’s presence to measuring it.

The robots used in manufacturing currently are cheaper than before. The standard models are now produced in large scale, hence making them be more available to meet the fast-growing demand. These robots are simple, and much more conducive to plug and play installation. The robots are designed to communicate more effectively with one another making for easier production assembly because the resulting systems are very reliable and flexible. Manufacturing robots can handle more because they are constructed to offer complexity and toughness in the diverse manufacturing process.

Reasons for using the robots in the manufacturing industry

From the studies that have been carried out by various scholars, it has been found out that the application of robots in the production and manufacturing lines increases the efficiencies which include from the handling such as sorting, packing and moving raw materials to other assembly operations

Unlike the human beings, the robots are known to be programmed to operate 24/7 in lights-out situations. With that it is much easier to achieve continues production, the robots don’t get exhausted like human labour.

Comparing the robots and the human labour, the robots are much flexible, and they can be customized n to perform a variety of activities and even very complex tasks which cannot be carried out by the human beings (Colestock, 2018, p. 28).

With the increased usage of the robots in the manufacturing sector, manufacturers are required to embrace the use of the robots in order stay competitive and meet the required production rates which are embraced in various parts of the world.

The process of automation can be highly cost-effective for nearly every size of the company which will include the small shops. The automation will also reduce the work which is carried out by the human labour in the production line and due to that, it is possible to achieve uniformity of the products that are being produced. With the automation, the time which will be spent in handling the materials during the manufacturing process will greatly reduce since the robots are programmed and carry out the activities which would have been carried out by the human beings within the shortest time.

Laws of robots

Asimov proposed three “Laws of Robotics “and later added the “zeroth law.”

Law 0: A robot may not injure humanity or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm
Law 1: A robot may not injure a human being or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm unless this would violate a higher order law
Law 2: A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with a higher order law
Law 3: A robot must protect its existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a higher order law(Mathia, 2012, p. 159)

Benefits of robots in manufacturing

The adoption of the robots into the manufacturing lines is increasing at alarming rates. Globally it is estimated that 1.3 million industrial robots will be adopted into industries annually, even though the initial investment for the robots is very high, there are many benefits that are associated with the adoption of the robots into the industries and they include;

Shorter cycle time. The robots in the manufacturing lines have the ability to work at a constant speed by taking breaks or resting as human workers and due to that it is possible for the robots to work continuously and produce a lot since it does not need time for rest or vocation and with that it can be able to work in even the times which the human worker cannot be able to work.

The adoption of robots in the manufacturing lines enhances the quality of the products manufactured and at the same time, they are very reliable. The robots are known to have very high levels of accuracy and precision on all the activities that they carry out. The robots ensure that the products which they manufacture are manufactured with the same specification and process every time they manufacture a product. Since the robots depend on the instructions which are fed onto them, it is very much easier to achieve the high levels of accuracy

There is better floor space utilization in the industries which have adopted robots in their manufacturing lines. It is much possible to decrease the footprint of the work area through the automating parts of the production line; it will be much possible to utilize the floorspace other operations and make the process to flow proficiently. Most of the robots have elements which are very flexible, and they can extend or shrink depending on the activities that they what to carry out (Donath, 2018, p. 27).

Robots that are used in industries able to significantly enhance the quality of the products. Applications of the reports I usually carried out with superior and repeatability on every job. This level of liability can be a challenge to accomplish by any other method. Robots are regularly being upgraded but some of the most precise reported today have repeatability of +/- 0.02mm. For a long time robots have been known to increase the safety at the workplaces.

Handling of materials is the most common activity carried out by the robots in the manufacturing cycle. Robots for handling materials can I automate some of the most tedious and save and mind-numbing activities in a production cycle. The term material handling refers too many activities that are carried out in the production line such as; selection loading and unloading, packing, palletizing and machine feeding.

The number of wastes that are generated in the manufacturing lines where robots have been reduced is very minimal. This is because of the high level of accuracy of the robots which enable them to use a very low amount of raw materials in the manufacturing and due too that the number of wastes that are generated is very few at the same time reducing the cost of removing these wastes from the production facility.

With the reduction of the cost of the manufactured products and the time of manufacturing more customers are attracted to purchase the products with that there is a very high turnover that is realized by the industries (Faust, 2016, p. 272).

By adopting the robots into the manufacturing cycles, there are more savings that are realized, for instance, the Robotworx has an ROI calculator which greatly help one to find how much money one can be able to save by adopting the robots into the manufacturing systems. In addition to that, improved worker safety leads to financial savings due to the lower healthcare and insurance concerns for the employees — also the quality and customer satisfaction, which means that there will be more customers who will be willing to consume the manufactured products.

The robots act as experts at multiple applications. The process of automation in the manufacturing industry is the process of integrating industrial machinery to automatically carry out many applications such as; material handling, welding, palletizing, cutting, packing dispensing. In all the applications in which the robots are involved in the production line, they perform much better than how the human workers would have carried out those activities hence they are considered to be experts of multiple applications

Limitations of robots in manufacturing

Even though the robots have many benefits there are also limitations that are associated with their adoption into the manufacturing lines, and they include;

Understanding the significant initial cost of implementation. The initial cost of implementing the robots into the manufacturing systems can be very high especially when the robots to be integrated into the manufacturing cycle are only limited to new robots. The cost of robot automation should be calculated in the light of business, greater financial budget. Regular maintenance also needs a lot of finances to ensure that the robots are maintained in good condition to achieve very high levels of efficiency.

Incorporating the industrial robots does not guarantee automated results one needs to understand the needs of the manufacturing to be able to come up with a working plan on how to integrate the robots from the initial production to the end. Most industries have integrated the robots into their manufacturing lines and have not seen any benefit due to poor understanding of the needs of their production lines (James, 2026, p. 43).

There is a lot of training which is required for the robots to be adopted into a given manufacturing line. For instance, workers will be trained on how to program the robots to be able to carry out their activities efficiently. There will be a need also for the workers to be trained on the safety and health issues relating to the operation of the robots to avoid the accidents from occurring. The robots will also require to be trained in the activities which they will be tasked to carry out. All the above training require a lot of resources which might increase the overall cost of installation and hence make it very difficult to adopt the robots I into the manufacturing cycle.

In case of an error in the programming of the robots that can result in massive losses in the automated robots. The robots are known to perform according to the instructions which are fed on them, in the case of errors they will be reflected in the final manufactured products.

Principles of industrial robots used in manufacturing

The concept of robots in manufacturing is the use of robots by kinematics to move wrist of a robot with the tool in the workpiece space. The chief method for application of robots equipped with special tools in manufacturing is as illustrated in the figure below.

For the use of robots in the production of a particularly important form of working space for industrial robots. Space is usually established by the kinematic structure of the robots as illustrated in the table below. The use of robots in surface manufacturing is considered to be cheaper than the numerical control machine tools.

Human-robot interaction

It’s becoming more often for humans and robots to share working space. Due to that, there is a need for enhanced human-robot communication and awareness, i.e. What is expected from the robot and at the same time what they expected to do with robots. An element of interaction with robots that is not unique to the mobile robot is an element of interaction with robots that is not unique to the mobile robot is taking them the task they are expected to do teaching them the task they are expected to do. Another technique which is very efficient is the use of gestures to show the mobile manipulator what it should pick up or where it should move to. The application of this technique requires the definition of the gestures that are to be used so that they can be easily communicated by people and easily disambiguated by the sensors on the mobile robot. Some researchers have also carried out investigations on ways through which robots can be in a position to ask for help (Basu, 2014, p. 238).

Personal care robots have been developed into the advanced human-robot interactive systems. For instance,care-o-bot is now in its third generation with the characteristics which are potentially very helpful to the industrial mobile robot community. The navigation is through odometer which is the measurement of the speed of vehicles the process is enhanced by simultaneous localization and mapping which is based on the front and the rear laser scan data which is compared with the global map. A three-level hierarchical controller which includes single wheel control, four-wheel control, and a trajectory planner which enable path planning around the obstacles and via narrow passages. The omnidirectional mobile manipulator which includes a try and a robot arm and have the ability to compute the collision p-free manipulation paths which are based on the data from a coloured light and camera.

Detection and ranging sensors. The system also implements the spatial segmentation for the obstacle learning and interpretation of the three clouds of points which are usually detected by the LIDAR sensor for the object recognition.

Localization and navigation

The manufacturing robots usually operate in large facilities and due to that numerous approaches have been taken for localization and navigation. The approaches range from the methods in which the entire facility is first mapped, and the routes are planned a before those in which the sensors give information regarding the traversable areas and the vehicles usually determine their current positions and the plan their paths dynamically based on the features which are recognized in the environment. There is typically a tradeoff between the prior plans and the ones which are dynamically generated. Usually, there is expected to be much in the environment and the cycle times are very critical, a priori planning is usually preferred. When the workspace or the activity changes regularly it is normally better to plan dynamically (Heytler, 2017, p. 173). The manufacturing facilities usually take the middle road. Markers may be placed in the work area which is recognized by the sensors on the vehicles and at the same time offer accurate localisation via triangulation and hence simplify the navigation process. Other sensors on-board the vehicle look for the obstacles or the unexpected objects on the path of the vehicle and may be able to plan a way around them before returning to their pre-planned route. It is also very significant to know the position and the orientation of a given manufacturing robot and with that numerous techniques have been developed to offer this data.

Planning and coordination of the manufacturing robots

In a manufacturing environment, there may be a usually large number of industrial vehicles moving materials or in the in-process parts like the between the workstations or, in more advanced operations, positioning tools or the robots which operates directly on the parts. Usually, there are many aspects of the operations such as vehicles which must be planned and coordinated. Which include ensuring that the parts of the vehicles do not intersect that traffic does not become congested, that the materials Are delivered to the right places at the right times and throughput are compatible with the work cadence of the factory, and that the factory and that the vehicles are given time to recharge since they are electrically powered. The process of planning includes the determination of more than just the paths the vehicles will follow. It also may include ensuring that the vehicles avoid other equipment or other people while enabling a high level of accuracy docking with the conveyors or any other type of equipment.

The current practices in the manufacturing industry are to handle coordination as an offline challenge which needs to be solved when the vehicles are programmed. In most cases, there is some tangible evidence for the adoption of this approach. They include; the desire to achieve a constant rate of production and safety concerns. The offline approach usually breaks down in the situations where there is the need for quick changeovers between takes, and when people may be required to share the working space with the robots (Zaremba, 2018, p. 239). Due to that, there is usually a greater need for the techniques which usually tries to maintain a high level of productivity and safety of the workers while still enabling the robots to modify their trajectories enable coordinated motions and at the same time to ensure obstacles are avoided. Such adoptions depend on the growing adaptive intelligent control architectures with the improved sensor feedback and situation awareness.

A lot of efforts have been put in place to try to coordinate and plan the actions of the many manufacturing robots. For the industrial mobile robots, the coordination is normally done centrally, and the optimal routes can be determined offline because they do not change for long periods.

Robot interfaces and programming

The programming or set up of sequences and motions for the robots in the manufacturing line is typically taught through the linking of the robot and the robot controller to the laptop or any other personal computer.

A robot and a collection of machines are usually referred to as a work cell or simply a cell. A typical work cell might contain a parts feeder, a moulding machine and a robot. The various machines are usually integrated and controlled by a single computer or LPC. How the robot interacts with the machines in the cell is compulsory to be programmed, both about their positions in the cell and the synchronizing with them (Krar, 2013, p. 32).

The computer is also installed with software with the corresponding interface software. The application of computers significantly simplifies the programming process. The specialized robot software is run either in the robot control or in the computer or some situations both depending on the system of design.

There are normally two basic entities that are needed to be taught — positional data and procedure. For instance, in the task to move a screw from the feeder to a hole the position of the feeder and the hole must be first be programmed or be taught. Secondary the steps that are needed to be followed to get the screw from the feeder to the hole must also be programmed along with any I/O involved.

Kinematics and mechanisms

The selection of mechanism, its kinetic properties, the computational techniques to determine the joint motions and the intended applications the robot manipulator are closely related. The diagram below shows the several common types of robot mechanism.

With the advances in technology and state of the art in the kinematics algorithms and the computer hardware processing capacity, computational is much less of a constraint on the mechanism selection than it was with the early boot designers. The selection of the mechanical structure of a robot usually depends on the fundamental mechanical requirements of the robot such as workspace and payload sizes. By considering a given level of the cost, there is usually a tradeoff between the workspace size and stiffness. To enable the robot to reach the inside or around any given obstacle it is beneficial to make application of the articulated mechanical design.

Considering also the stiffness and the accuracy a practical sense considering what is reasonable to construct. To achieve maximum stiffness, again for a given certain minimum level of cost, the end-effector is better supported from the different directions, and that has many benefits. On the other side if the stiffness is high is the main concern, a typical computerized numerical control machine is identical to the principle to the gantry mechanism. There are also modular systems with servo-controlled actuators which can be used to construct both the robots with a purpose-designed mechanism.

End-effectors and the system integration

It is very interesting to observe that connecting various work devices, and integrating them into a working system, is hardly mentioned in the robotic literature review. However, in the actual robot installation, this section usually represents half of the cost of installations which includes. The automation stage includes all the problems of integrating computer s and their peripherals, plus the additional issues that have to do with the variety of devices and their interaction with the physical environment. The number of variations is very large, and due to that, it is not possible to create reusable solutions.

To carry out the system integrations per the current practices is not a scientific problem as such, but its obstacles it comprises form barrier to apply the advanced sensor-based control for the improved flexibility, as is needed in the short – series production. To be specific, in future types of applications using the external sensing and the high-performance feedback control within the work cell, the system integration will be even a bigger problem since it includes the tuning of the feedback too.

References

Asfahl, R., 2010. Robots And Manufacturing Automation. 2nd ed. Sydney: Wiley India Pvt. Limited.

Basu, J., 2014. Proceedings of the National Conference on Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics. 3rd ed. Chicago: Allied Publishers.

Colestock, H., 2018. Industrial Robotics: Selection, Design, and Maintenance. 2nd ed. Berlin: McGraw-Hill.

Dauchez, P., 2016. Robotics and Manufacturing: Recent Trends in Research, Education, and Applications: Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Robotics and Manufacturing. 3rd ed. London: ASME Press.

Donath, M., 2018. Robotics and manufacturing automation: presented at the Winter Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Miami Beach, 5th ed. Florida: ASME.

Faust, D. R., 2016. Manufacturing Robots. 4th ed. London: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Heytler, P., 2017. Industrial robots: forecast and trends. 2nd ed. Chicago: SME.

James, R., 2026. Robot Technology and Applications. Illustrated ed. Texas: CRC Press.

Jamshidi, M., 2013. Industrial robots: their role in the manufacturing industry. 2nd ed. Chicago: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Krar, S. F., 2013. Exploring Advanced Manufacturing Technologies. 3rd ed. Chicago: Industrial Press Inc.

Mathia, K., 2012. Robotics for Electronics Manufacturing: Principles and Applications in Cleanroom Automation. 2nd ed. Texas: Cambridge University Press.

Miller, R. K., 2017. Robots in industry: applications for assembly. 1st ed. London: Richard Kendall Miller.

Moreira, A. P., 2011. Industrial Robot Handbook. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Springer.

Pedro Neto, 2013. Robotics in Smart Manufacturing: International Workshop, WRSM 2013, Co-located with FAIM. 2nd ed. Texas: Springer,

Tzafestas, J., 2014. Microprocessors in Robotic and Manufacturing Systems. 1st ed. New York: Springer Science & Business Media,

Zaremba, M., 2018. Information Control Problems in Manufacturing Technology. 4th ed. London: Elsevier.

ROBOTS IN MANUFACTURING-885122

Introduction

Application of robots in manufacturing

Reasons for using the robots in the manufacturing industry

Laws of robots

Benefits of robots in manufacturing

Limitations of robots in manufacturing

Principles of industrial robots used in manufacturing

Human-robot interaction

Localization and navigation

Planning and coordination of the manufacturing robots

Robot interfaces and programming

Kinematics and mechanisms

End-effectors and the system integration

References

About admin

Introduction

Application of robots in manufacturing

Reasons for using the robots in the manufacturing industry

Laws of robots

Benefits of robots in manufacturing

Limitations of robots in manufacturing

Principles of industrial robots used in manufacturing

Human-robot interaction

Localization and navigation

Planning and coordination of the manufacturing robots

Robot interfaces and programming

Kinematics and mechanisms

End-effectors and the system integration

References

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