Industrial Robots

Short History of Industrial Robots

the first robot company, Unimation, was founded and put

the first robot into service at a General Motors plant in
1961 for extracting parts from a die-casting machine.
(a) First introduced in 1973, the IRB-6 has been a breakthrough development as it
was the first serially-produced robot product, which combined all-electric-drives
technology and a microcomputer for programming and motion control. The robot
proved very robust. Life-times of more than 20 years in harsh productions were
reported
The selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) is particularly suited for
assembly tasks as it combines rigidity in the vertical axis and compliance in the
horizontal axis. In 1978, the first Hirata AR-300 was put together. Depicted is the
successor design, the AR-i350. The SCARA design combines three or four
rotational and one translational axis
In 1974, Cincinnati Milacron introduced the first microcomputer
controlled robot. The first T3 (The Tomorrow Tool) models used
hydraulic drives, later they were replaced by electric motors as
shown in the photo. The CM robotics division was acquired by
ABB in the late 1970s
This 6 axis PUMA (programmable universal machine for
assembly) came close to the dexterity of a human arm. After its
launch in 1979 by Unimation it became one of the most
popular arms and was used as a reference in robotics research
for many years
 Spot welding quickly became a primary application for
robots as these jobs were particularly exhausting and
hazardous for workers. A typical car body welding line from
1985 is displayed. The car model shown is a French Citroën
CX
An automated VCR assembly line (ca. 1989) with SCARAs
carrying a turret with multi-gripper tools. Typically five parts
are added by one robot before the VCR is moved to the next
station of the fully automated
assembly line
Parallel kinematic machines (PKM) represent an interesting
approach to achieve high stiffness at low inertia, thus
allowing accurate, high speed motions. Initially suggested
by Clavel this 4 axis robot (called Delta) is used for high
speed pick-and-place tasks. The robot reaches accelerations
of up to 10 g
The KUKA light-weight robot is the result of a long research
and development process by DLR, towards an arm design
with a weight-to-payload ratio of 1:1. The 7 axis arm which
is suited for human-robot cooperation imitates the dexterity
of a human arm
roboLoop of Güdel is a curved-track gantry and transfer system. One
or more robot arms circulate as carriers in a closed transfer system. The
system can be installed suspended, in gantry configuration, or as a
floor-standing system. A signal bus allows the control and coordination
of multiple robo-carriers
Motoman’s DA-20 dual-arm robot provides high-speed motion
with two six-axis arms that provide enhanced, human-like
flexibility of movement. The robot also provides jig-less
operation with one robot arm holding a part while the other
performs operations on the held part
Typical Applications and Robot Configurations

1- Welding
Manual welding requires highly skilled workers, as small
imperfections in the weld can lead to severe consequences.

Modern welding robots have the following

characteristics:
A-Computer control allows the programming of task sequences, robot
motions, external actuators, sensors, and communication with external
devices.
B-Free definition and parameterization of robot positions/orientations,
reference frames, and trajectories.
C-High repeatability and positioning accuracy of trajectories. Typically
repeatability is some ± 0.1 mm
and positioning accuracy is of the order of ± 1.0 mm.
D- High speeds of the end-effector of up to 8 m/s.
E-Typically, articulated robots have six DOF so that commanded
orientations and positions in their
workspace can be reached. Workspace extensions by mounting the robot
on a linear axis (seventh DOF) are common, especially for welding of
large structures.
F- Typical payloads of 6–100 kg.
G- Advanced programmable logic controller (PLC) capabilities such as
fast input/output control and
synchronizing actions within the robot work cell.
H-Interfacing to high-level factory control through
(a) The welding robot work cell consists of a 6 DOF robot, a
turning table so that the seam is accessible and welded in a flat
position, the weld source with a fume extractor and the welding
torch. Safety fences and light shields are not shown. The welding
torch is attached to the robot flange. A service station (not shown)
in the robot work cell is approached regularly to clean the gas
nozzle.
A typical weld seam sensor is based on the so-called laser
triangulation principle. The sensor is attached to the robot
and a laser projects a sharp stripe on the seam. The stripe is
detected by an imager, typically a 2-D CCD camera. From
the extracted contour the position of the seam relative to the
sensor is calculated. (c) Multiple seams can be generated
based on this information
 Car Body Assembly
A car body assembly usually follows the illustrated steps:
Stamping of the metal sheet into plates, fixing and alignment of
the plates on trays, spot welding, painting the car body, and final
assembly of the car body (doors, dashboard, windscreens, power-
train seats, and tires). Car factories can host well over 1000
robots working two to three shifts per day.
The Mercedes A class assembly in Rastatt Germany is highly
automated. The picture shows spot welding robots along the, body in
white transfer line. Trays carrying car bodies pass through the robot
garden
Today’s industrial robots, particularly in the workload category
of 100–300 kg, are to a large extent the results of the
requirements stemming from this application:

• Required repeatability of at least ± 0.5 mm under typical loads of

some 100 kg for the spot-welding tool and cable package leads to stiff
and heavy arm structures. A typical robot weight-to-payload ratio
is of the order of 1500 kg:150 kg.

• Three-shift continuous operation requires highest reliability of both robot

and equipment. Typical mean time between failure (MTBF) is reported to
be around than 50 000 h .
• The line capacity depends on the robot’s speed to place spot welds.
Thus, the point-to-point (PTP) movement time between welding positions
should be kept as short as possible. This is mainly achieved by powerful
drives so that the mean power consumption of the robot drives is typically
5 kW.

• Most of the trajectories, positions, and orientations are generated using

offline programming (OLP) systems. Accurate simulations of the robot
motion depend on robot models, which incorporate both robot kinematic
properties and controller characteristics. The realistic robot simulation
(RSS) interface is the accepted standard format for robot models of offline
programming systems
3-Painting

Hazardous working conditions for human

operators
******Initially pneumatically driven for anti-explosion reasons,

--today’s robot designs are fully electric with greatly improved

spray guns.

---They also have hooks and grippers to open hoods and doors
during the painting task.

---Hollow wrists that house gas and paint hoses allow fast and
agile motions.

***Spray guns for robots

1-delivering uniform quality using as little paint and solvent as
possible
2- switching between different paint colors
****Most of the programming for robot painting today is done offline as state-of
the-art programming systems offer integrated process simulations to optimize paint
deposition, thickness, and coverage.

4- Material Transfer Automation

Generally, industrial practice in robot work cell planning aims at finding a
compromise between reducing the variation of the workpiece position and the
cost of sensor systems to compensate for residual variation.

5 Machining
robots can machine workpieces (grinding, fettling, polishing
etc.)
Kinematics and Mechanisms
Task Descriptions – Teaching and Programming
In terms of wrist designs, there are two main
configurations

1. pitch-yaw-roll (XYZ) like the human arm

2. roll-pitch-roll (ZYZ) or spherical wrist
ABB IRB1400 industrial robot
GRIPPERS