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Imteaz Ahmed
Industrial Robotics 16MME004F
ME-6373 Md. Imteaz Ahmed
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iii. Technical Report on Robot in Material Handling

INTRODUCTION

Welding technology has obtained access virtually to every branch of

manufacturing; to name a few bridges, ships, rail road equipments, building
constructions, boilers, pressure vessels, pipe lines, automobiles, aircrafts, launch
vehicles, and nuclear power plants. Especially in India, welding technology needs
constant upgrading, particularly in field of industrial and power generation boilers,
high voltage generation equipment and transformers and in nuclear aero-space
industry.

Welding is a process of joining different materials. The large bulk of materials

that are welded are metals and their alloys although welding is also applied to the
joining of other materials such as thermoplastics. Welding joins different metals or
alloys with help of a number of processes in which heat is supplied either electrically
or by means of a gas torch.

SPOT WELDING

As he term suggests, spot welding is a process in which two sheet metal parts
are fused together at localized points by passing a large electric current using two
copper electrodes, hence producing the weld. For relatively small parts a spot welding
machine is used in which the parts are inserted between the pair of electrodes that
are maintained in a fixed position. Where as for larger works such as in automobile
bodies a portable welding gun is used which consists of a pair of electrodes and a frame
to open and close the electrodes.
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CONTINUOUS ARC WELDING

Arc welding is a continuous process as opposed to spot welding which might be

called a discontinuous process. Continuous arc welding is used to make long welding
joints in which an air tight seal is often required between the two pieces of metals
being joined. The process uses an electrode in the form of a rod or a wire of metal to
supply the high electric current needed for establishing the arc. Currents are typically
100 to 300A at voltages of 10 to 30GV. The arc between the welding rod and the metal
parts to be joined produces temperatures that are sufficiently high to form a pool of
molten metal to fuse the two pieces together. The electrode can also be used to
contribute to the molten pool, depending on the type of welding process.

For robot applications two types of arc welding processes seems to be most
practical, namely: gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding
(GTAW). Gas tungsten arc welding is also called MIG welding for metal inert gas
welding.

WHY CONTINUOUS ROBOTIC ARC WELDING?

Arc welding is performed by skilled workers who are assisted by a person called
fitter. The purpose of the fitter is to organize the work and fixture the parts of the
welder. The working condition of the welder is typically unpleasant and hazardous.
The arc from the welding process emits ultra-violet radiations which is injurious to
human vision. As a result welders are required to wear eye protection in the form of a
welding helmet with a dark window. The dark window filters out the dangerous, but it
so dark that the welder is virtually blind while wearing the helmet except when the arc
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is struck. Other aspects of the process are also hazardous. The high temperature
created in arc welding and the resulting molten metals are inherently dangerous. The
high electric current used to create the arc is also unsafe. Sparks and smoke are
generated during the process are a potential threat to operators. Because of the
hazards for human workers in continuous arc welding, it is logical to consider industrial
robots for the purpose.

BENEFITS OF ROBOT ARC WELDING

1. HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY

Factors that contribute to the increased rate when robots used in batch
production is the elimination of fatigue factor. Robots do not experience fatigue in the
sense that human workers do. A robot can continue to operate in the entire shift with
need of periodic rest breaks.

2. IMPROVED SAFTEY AND QUALITY-OF-WORK LIFE

Improved safety and quality-of-work environment result from removing the

human operator from an uncomfortable, fatiguing and potentially dangerous work
situation.
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3. GREATER QUALITY OF PRODUCT

Greater product quality in robot arc welding results from the capability of the
robot to perform the welding cycle with accuracy and repeatability than its human
counterpart. This translates into a more consistent welding seam; one that is free of
the start-and-stop builds up of filler metal in the seam that is the characteristic of many
welds accomplished by human welders.

FEATURES OF ARC WELDING ROBOTS

An industrial robot that performs welding must possess certain features and
capabilities. Some of the technical considerations in arc welding applications are
discussed in the following.

1. WORK VOLUME AND DEGREES OF FREEDOM

The robot’s work volume must be large enough for the size of the parts to be
welded. A sufficient allowance must be made for the manipulation of the welding
torch. Five or six degrees of freedom are generally required for arc welding robots. The
number is influenced by the characteristics of the welding job and motion capabilities
of the parts manipulator. If the parts manipulator has two degrees of freedom, this
tends to reduce the requirement on the number of degrees of freedom possessed by
the robot.
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2. MOTION CONTROL SYSTEM

Continuous path control is required for arc welding. The robot must be capable
of smooth continuous motion in order to maintain uniformity of welding seam.

3. PRECISION OF MOTION

The accuracy and repeatability of the robot determines to a large extend for
the quality of welding job. The precision requirements of welding job vary according
to size and industry purpose, and these requirements should be defined by each
individual user before selecting the most appropriate robot.

4. INTERFACE WITH OTHER SYSTEM

The robot must be provided with sufficient input/output and control

capabilities to work with other equipments in the cell. These other pieces of
equipments are automobile fixturing units, conveyors, and parts of positioners. The
cell controller unit must co-ordinate the path and path of robot with operation of parts
manipulator and the welding parameters such as wire feed rate and power level.
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5. PROGRAMMING

Programming the robot for continuous arc welding must be considered

carefully. To facilitate the input of the program for welding paths with irregular shapes;
it is convenient to use the walk through method in which the robot wrist is physically
moved through its motion path. For straight welding paths, the robot should possess
the capability for linear interpolation between two points in the space. This permits
the programmer to define the beginning and points of the path the robot is capable of
computing the straight trajectory between the points.

A typical arc welding robot

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PROBLEMS FOR ROBOTS IN ARC WELDING

1. A related problem is that arc welding is often performed in confined areas that
are difficult to access, such as insides of tanks, pressure vessels, and ship hulls.
Humans can position in to these areas more readily than robots.
2. One of the most difficult technical problems is the variation in the dimensions
of the parts in a batch production job. This type of dimensional variations
means that the arc-welding path to be followed will change slightly from part
to part.
3. Another technical difficulty is the variations in the edges and surfaces to be
welded together. Instead of being straight and regular, the edges are typically
irregular. This causes variations in the gap between the parts and other
problems in the way the pieces mate together prior to the welding process.

Human welders are able to compensate for both these variations by certain
parameters in the welding process. Industrial robots provided with sensors to monitor
the variations in the welding process and the control logic to compensate for part and
weld gap irregularities.
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Arc welding robots performing in a workshop

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WHY ROBOT SPOT WELDING?

For larger works on spot welding the welding guns with cables attached is quite
heavy and can easily exceed 100lb in weight. To assist the operator in manipulating
the gun, the apparatus is suspended from an overhead hoist system. Even with this
assistance, the spot-welding gun represents a heavy mass and is difficult to manipulate
by a human worker at high rates of production desired on a car body assembly line.
There are often problems with the consistency of the welded products made on such
a manual line as a consequence of this difficulty.

As a result of these difficulties robots have been employed with great success
on this type of production line to perform some or all of the welding operations. A
welding gun is attached as the end effector to each robot’s wrist, and the robot is
programmed to perform a sequence of welds on the product as it arrives at the
workstation. Some robot spot-welding lines operate with several dozens of robots all
programmed to perform different welding cycles on the product. Today, the
automobile manufacturers make extensive use of robots for spot-welding.

BENEFITS OF ROBOT SPOT WELDING

1. IMPROVED PRODUCT QUALITY

Improved quality is in the form of more consistent welds and better

repeatability in the location of welds. Even robots with relatively unimpressive
repeatability specifications are able to locate the spot welds more accurately than
human operators.
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2. OPERATOR SAFETY

Improved safety results simply because the human is removed from the work
environment where there are hazards from electrical shocks and burns.

3. BETTER CONTROL OVER PRODUCTION OPERATION

The use of robots to automate the spot welding process should also result in
improvements in area such as production scheduling and in process inventory control.

The maintenance of the robots and welding equipment becomes an important

factor in the successful operation of an automated spot welding production line.

FEATURES OF SPOT-WELDING ROBOTS

1. Robots must be relatively large. It must have sufficient payload capacity to

readily manipulate the welding gun for the application.
2. The work volume must be adequate for the size of the product.
3. The robot must be able to position and orient the welding gun in places on the
product that might be difficult to access. This might result in need for an
increased number of freedoms.
4. The controller memory must have enough capacity to accomplish the many
positioning steps required for the spot-welding cycle. In some applications, the
welding line is designed to produce several different models of the product.
Accordingly, the robot must be able to switch from one programmed welding
sequence to another as the models change.
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A typical spot welding robot

Spot welding robot performing in a welding cell

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ROBOTIC ARC WELDING SYSTEM

Robotic arc welding (RAWS) is best suited for batch production involving
frequent design changes in a component and even where different components are to
be handled one after the other. This is possible due to highly flexible system provided
by RAWS. However the justification for installation of such a system has to be looked
through return on investment by considering all the expenses (on equipment, material
handling devices, training, etc.) and the likely savings on account of increased
production, improved quality, savings of energy, men-hours and materials due to the
reduction in reworking of components, lower turn over of employees in the shop and
reduced burden of strikes, etc.

RAWS[6]

The figure given above shows the various units involved in robotic arc welding
system (RAWS). The robotic arc welding system consists of a manipulator, controller
and power supply unit.
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MANIPULATOR

The robot consists of a manipulator which is a series of mechanical linkages and

joints capable of producing all sorts of designed movements. The body, arm and wrist
assembly of a robot is sometimes called as a manipulator. Each link of a manipulator
is driven by activators which may be operated either hydraulic or pneumatic power
cylinder or electrical motors. The forearm of a robot can move in a nearly spherical
way, thus covering a large work volume and providing greater application flexibility. It
is easily possible to reach down into or onto objects placed over the conveyor.

SENSORS

The robotic arc welding sensor system considered here are all designed to track
the welding seam and provide the information to the robot controller to help guide
the welding path. The approaches used for this purposes divide into two basic
categories:

1. Contact sensors.

2. Non-Contact sensors

Contact arc welding sensors make use of a mechanical tactile probe to touch
the sides of the groove ahead of the welding torch and to feed back position data so
that course corrections can be made by the robot controller. Some systems use a
separate control unit design to interpret the probe sensor measurements and transmit
the data to the robot controller.
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The second basic type of sensor system used to track the welding seam uses no
tactile measurements. A variety of sensors schemes have been explored in this
category.

Feedback devices or sensors are devices which are incorporated to sense the
positions of the various links and joints. The information from these devices is fed to
the controller. The sensors used in robotics include the following general categories.

1. Tactile sensors
2. Proximity and range sensors
3. Miscellaneous types
4. Machine vision

CONTROL SYSTEM

Typical block diagram configuration of a control system for a robot joint.

The information from the feedback devices is fed to the controller. The
controller initiates and terminates motion of the manipulator in desired sequences
and at desired points through interfaces with and manipulator’s and activators and
feedback systems. It also stores position and sequence data in memory and performs
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complex arithmetic functions to control path, speed and position. The controller is also
lined with other auxiliary devices like power source, wire feed unit, conveyor etc.

The control unit has a computer with lot of computational capability. The
movement of torch centre point installed at the end of forearm of the robot can be
controlled either by

1. Co-ordinate axis control motions

2. controlled path generation
Only the end points in case of linear path and three points in case of circular
path are specified and the computer automatically generates the controlled path at
the desired velocity including acceleration and retardation.

An important feature of the RAWS is the searching and following of the actual
welding seam or groove or seam tracking in deviation of pre-planned line. With out
this facility, the programmed welding groove would different because of errors due to
imprecise component clamping and assembly of improper fit up and inconsistent
orientation of the component etc. However seam tracking system takes care of these
problems and ensures the actual welding grooves to be as per programmed welding
grooves.

ROBOT CONTROLLER
WELDING POWER OR MASTER CONTROL ROBOT
SOURCE AND MANIPULATOR OR
CONTROL ARC MOTION
Z

OPTIONAL
ELECTRODE WIRE WELDING CONTROL
POSITIONER OR WORK
FEEDER AND AND INTERFACE
MOTION AND
CONTROL
CONTROL
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF RAWS
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Examples of Welding Robots:

In this section, a few examples of current welding robots are provided.

KUKA: Their versatility and flexibility make the KUKA KR 6-2 and KR 16-2 (Figure
3) our most popular robots. These masterful movers have a payload of 6 or 16 kg and,
thanks to their design, are ideal for all space-saving, cost-effective system concepts.
That’s why they are used virtually everywhere – both in the automotive components
industry and in non-automotive sectors. With minimized disruptive contours and a
streamlined robot wrist design, these high precision multi-talents offer outstanding
accessibility, even in confined spaces. For cleanroom requirements or environments
with a high degree of fouling and high temperatures, the KR 16-2 is also available in
the special variants Cleanroom (CR) and Foundry(F).

FANUC: The FANUC F-200iB (Figure 3) is a six degrees of freedom servo-driven

parallel link robot designed for use in a variety of manufacturing and automotive
assembly processes. The F-200iB is engineered for applications requiring extreme
rigidity and exceptional repeatability in a compact, powerful package.

Panasonic: Panasonic Perform Arc C Series (Figure 4) are dedicated customized robot
systems, made 100% on customer request. Some of the important features of these
robots can be summarized as follows
 High quality welding with high production rate
 Torsion-free design for easy transportation with no programming correction, and for
program exchanges between the robots for production expansion
 All from one solution reduce interfaces from different supplies and increase
productivity.
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CONCLUSION

A substantial opportunity exists in the technology of robotics to relieve people

from boring, repetitive, hazardous and unpleasant work in all forms of a human labour.
There is a social value as well as a commercial value in pursuing this opportunity. The
commercial value of robotics is obvious. Properly applied, robots can accomplish
routine, undesirable work better than humans at a lower cost. As the technology
advances, and more people learn how to use robots, the robotics market will grow at
a rate that will approach the growth of the computer market over the past thirty years.
One might even consider robotics to be a mechanical extension of computer
technology.

The social value of robotics is that these wonderfully subservient machines will
permit humans more time to do work that is more challenging, creative, conceptual,
constructive and co-operative than at present. There is every reason to believe that
the automation of work through robotics will lead to substantial increases in
productivity, and that these productivity increases year by year will permit humans to
engage in activities that are cultural and recreational.

Not only will robotics improve our standard of living, it will also improve our standard
of life.
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Industrial Robotics 16MME004F

REFERENCE

1. Robotics by FU, GONZALEZ, LEE

2. Robot Technology by JAMES G. KERAMAS
3. Industrial Robotics by MIKELL P. GROOVER, NICHOLAS G. ODREY, MITCHEL
WEISS
4. www.faculty.washington.edu/robot_weld_engl.html
5. www.thetech.mit.edu/professional_robot.html
[6] ช. เพ็ชราภรณ์, “No

Titleภาวะผูน
้ ํ าองค ์กรและการจัดการทีมีประสิทธิภาพโรงพยาบาลร ัฐ,”

วารสารสังคมศาสตร ์วิชาการ, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1–16, 2557.

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iii. Technical Report on Robot in Material Handling

INTRODUCTION
In the manufacturing industries, and especially in the construction industry, a lot of
efforts are expended in material handling tasks. This situation has produced a significant
increase in the demand of material handling products that allows reducing these efforts,
decreasing the consumed time and the costs of this activity. Global demand for material
handling products is projected to rise 7.0 percent per year till 2014 to $119 billion1.
Materials handling products and systems are found in almost every manufacturing and
distribution company and for an endless number of goods. If we put our focus in the
construction industry, material handling tasks are present in typical works in the
construction site, in the materials distribution process, or in the construction materials
production. During many years, material-handling products has been developed using
traditional manipulating technologies, trying to reduce the worker efforts in lifting and
moving materials. However, conventional manually guided handling systems are in lack
of intuitive and responsive control that may cause back discomfort and fatigue. Current
industry trends, such as shorter product lifecycles, reduced time-to-market and mass-
customization require new paradigms and approaches for handling technology. The
growing numbers of product variants and dimensions, as well as smaller lot sizes, have
led to increasing demands on flexible material handling equipment and concepts. They
must realize high flexibility related to variants, cost-effective adaptability to specific
products and processes, and quick in-process reconfiguration and set-ups. In order to
master these challenges, innovative approaches and technologies are required.
Automation and robotics technologies have been applied in order to contribute to solve
these problems.
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COMPONENTS OF MATERIAL HANDLING ROBOT

1. MECHANICAL PARTS
The Mechanical components includes,
1. Chassis
2. Steering system
3. Ultrasonic sensor for obstacle detection

Chassis:
 Act as a frame for attaching other components
 Carry the load of other components and the payload.
 Act as sacrificial component to prevent damage of expensive payload in case of
accidents

Steering System:
Steering system is for steering the Material Handling Robot. The two individual motors
are directly attached with the rear wheel for steering and a single Castrol wheel is at the
front. If one of the wheels is stopped, while the other continues to rotate, the robot will
pivot around a point centered approximately at the mid-point of the stopped wheel
Ultrasonic sensor for obstacle detection: In controlling and designing Material
Handling Robot (MHR) systems the problem of prevention of MHR collisions and
deadlocks should be addressed. By attaching ultrasonic sensors on MHRs, physical
collisions can be avoided. An MHR should have the ability to avoid obstacles and the
ability to return to its original path without any collisions.

2. ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS:
Electrical components include the motor and the power supply unit for the motor,
sensing unit DC MOTOR 100 RPM DC Motor with Gearbox generally used for robotic
application are used for the driving mechanism, steering mechanism and lifting
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mechanism. We can adjust it to desired RPM using gear box. Very easy to use. It is
excellent for line tracking robotic application.

BATTERY
The power required for the entire working process is given by a Rechargeable valve
regulated Lead-Acid battery. The power from the battery is split it into two and one part
is given to microcontroller, display unit, driving unit and other part is given to lifting
motor.
3. ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
Electronic components provide sensing, logical decision and control of the vehicle. It
includes microcontroller, which is the brain of the vehicle for the decision logic, the
motor driver as both sensing and control of motor, regulator ICs, sensors for sensing the
path, position of loading and unloading stations, detect object in the path etc.

MICROCONTROLLER FEATURES
 Compatible with MCS-51Products
 4 Kbytes of In-System Reprogrammable Flash Memory
Endurance: 1,000 Write/Erase Cycles
 Fully Static Operation: 0 Hz to 24 MHz
 Three-Level Program Memory Lock
 128 x 8-Bit Internal RAM
 32 Programmable I/O Lines
 Two 16-Bit Timer/Counters
 Six Interrupt Sources
 Programmable Serial Channel
 Low Power Idle and Power Down Modes
Motor driver
It is an electronic circuit which enables a voltage to be applied across a load in either
direction. It allows a circuit full control over a standard electric DC motor. That is, with
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an H-bridge, a microcontroller, logic chip, or remote control can electronically

command the motor to go forward, reverse, brake, and coast

4. SOFTWARE COMPONENTS
Computer is used for making and implementing program for the microcontroller, using
embedded computer programming language. For this project we use ATMEL89C51
microcontroller. The ATMEL89C51 can be programmed with the Kiel-µvision
software.
4. Conclusions
The Material Handling Robot (MHR) is a productivity increasing feature in a factory.
During the manufacturing of this MHR it was found many of intelligence that can be
given to it. It provides the basic functions like line following and collision avoiding.
And the main function, transportation of goods from station to station. The followings
are the main features of the prototype which has been fabricated.
1. Speed of delivery
2. Adaptive to changes in factory layouts
3. Avoid collision with other objects
4. Reduction in labor cost
5. Reduction in running cost compared to conveyer systems
6. Ability to add sensors to detect the payload conditions
7. Ability to adjust the lifting time
8. Continues cycle of working
9. Conditions for line following can be changed easily Automatic Guided Vehicle can
be used in a wide
variety of applications to transport many different types of material including pallets,
rolls, racks, carts, and containers.
AGVs excel in applications with the following characteristics:
 Repetitive movement of material over a distance
 Regular delivery of stable loads
 Medium throughput/volume
 When on time delivery is critical and late deliveries
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are causing inefficiencies

 Operation with at least two shifts
 Archive Systems
 Cross Docking
 Distribution
 High Density Storage
 High Speed Sortation
 Material Flow and Transport
 Production and Manufacturing Delivery Systems
 Production and Manufacturing Support Systems
 Warehouse Management and Control
 Work-In-Process Buffers
The fabricated models have following advantages while comparing with the existing
models of this kind. The analyzing of advantages helps to motivate the fabrication of
MHR in the manufacturing industries. The important advantages of the prototype are
given below
 Reduce manpower
 Increase productivity
 Eliminate unwanted fork trucks
 Reduce product damages
 Maintain better control of material management
 Traffic control is not needed in this system because of single carrier
 Suitable to transfer frames Each of the machines have their own merits and
demerits.
The followings are the limitations of the prototype fabricated:
 Installation cost is very high.
 MHR are fragile and should be handled with care.
 Regular care, inspection and maintenance needed
 Should be recharged periodically
 MHR will stop delivery when it is forced off the path.
So in a word robot in material Handling needs to be more Robust, precise, sensible.