CHAPTER 5

Industrial Robot
Hawassa University Institute Of Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering

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 Contents
Introduction
Robot physical configurations
Robot components & Characteristics
Basic robot motions
Actuators & end effector
Robot applications
Advantages and disadvantages of robots
Robotic sensors
Programming of the robot
Vision system

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 Industrial robot
5.1 Introduction
 Robot is an automatically controlled material handling unit that
is widely used in the manufacturing industry.

 It is used for high volume production and better quality.

 Implementation of robot technology with integration of automatic

system can contribute to increasing of productivity of the/company
and enhances the profitability of the company.

ISO defines:
 A robot is an automatically controlled, reprogrammable,
multipurpose, manipulative machine with several reprogrammable
axes, which is either fixed in a place or mobile for use in industrial
automation application.
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Examples:
 Robots perform more than 98% of the spot welding on Ford's

Taurus and Sable cars in U.S.A.

 Robots insert disk drives into personal computers and snap keys

onto electronic typewriter keyboards

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 5.2 Robot physical configurations

 Commercially available industrial robots have one of the following

four configurations:

1. Cartesian coordinate configuration

2. Polar coordinate configuration
3. Cylindrical coordinate configuration
4. Jointed arm configuration

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1. Cartesian Coordinates
 Positioning may be done by linear motion along three principal

axes: left and right, in and out, and up and down.

 work area or work envelope serviced by the Cartesian-coordinates

robot’s arm is a big box-shaped area.

 Programming motion: X, Y and Z values of a desired point to be

reached.
 It is one of the simplest types of robots.

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1. Cartesian Coordinates

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2. Cylindrical Coordinates
 Robot there is a rotary motion at the base followed by the two

linear motions.

 The axes for the cylindrical coordinates are θ, the base rotational

axis; R (reach) the in-and-out axis; and Z, the up-and down axis.

 Work area is the space between two concentric cylinders of the

same height.

 Inner cylinder represents the reach of the arm with the arm fully

retracted, and the outer cylinder represents the reach of the arm
with the arm fully extended.
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2. Cylindrical Coordinates

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3. Spherical or Polar Coordinates
 Robot uses mostly rotational axes.

 Axes for the spherical coordinates are θ, the rotational axis; R, the

reach axis; and β, the bend-up-and-down axis.

 Work area serviced by a polar-coordinates robot is the space

between two concentric hemispheres.

 Reach of the arm defines the inner hemisphere when it is fully

retracted along the R axis. The reach of the arm defines outer
hemisphere when it is fully straightened along the R axis.

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3. Spherical or Polar Coordinates

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4. Jointed arm configuration
 Jointed arm configuration is similar in appearance to the

human arm,

 The arm consists of several straight members connected by

joints which are analogous to the human shoulder, elbow,

and wrist.

 Robot arm is mounted to a base which can be rotated to

provide the robot with the capacity to work within a quasi-

spherical space.
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4. Jointed arm configuration

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5. SCARA Robot

 Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) is a

type of robot that is commonly used for assembly

application.

 Arm picks up a piece-part vertically from a horizontal table,

and moves it in a horizontal plane to a point just above

another place on the table.

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5. SCARA Robot

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 5.3 Robot components & Characteristics
I. Robot components
1. Manipulator, or rover:
 It is main body of the robot and consists of the links, the joints,
and other structural elements of the robot. Without other
elements, the manipulator alone is not a robot.

2. End effector:

 Connected to the last joint (hand) of a manipulator, which

generally handles objects, makes connection to other machines, or
performs the required tasks.
 A welding torch, a paint spray gun, a glue-laying device, and a
parts handler are but a few of the possibilities.
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 Action of the end effector is either controlled by the robot’s
controller, or the controller communicates with the end effector’s
controlling device (such as a PLC).

3. Actuators:

 Actuators are the “muscles” of the manipulators.

 Common types of actuators are servomotors, stepper motors,

pneumatic cylinders, and hydraulic cylinders.

 Actuators are controlled by the controller.

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4. Sensors:

 Sensors are used to collect information about the internal state of

the robot or to communicate with the outside environment.

 Robots are often equipped with external sensory devices such as a

vision system, touch and tactile sensors, speech synthesizers,

etc., which enable the robot to communicate with the outside world.

5. Controller:

 The controller is rather similar to your cerebellum, and although it

does not have the power of your brain, it still controls your
motions.
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 Controller receives its data from the computer, controls the

motions of the actuators, and coordinates the motions with the

sensory feedback information.

6. Processor:

 The processor is brain of the robot.

 It calculates the motions of the robot’s joints, determines how

much and how fast each joint must move to achieve the desired
location and speeds, and oversees the coordinated actions of the
controller and the sensors.
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7. Software
Three groups of software that are used in a robot

 One is the operating system, which operates the computer

 Second is the robotic software, which calculates the necessary

motions of each joint based on the kinematic equations of the robot

 Third group is the collection of routines and application

programs such as vision routines, or to perform specific tasks.

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II. Robot Characteristics

Payload:
 Payload is the weight a robot can carry and still remain within its

other specifications.

 The payload of robots compared with their own weight is usually

very small.

 For example, Fanuc Robotics LR Mate™ robot has a mechanical

weight of 86 lbs. and a payload of 6.6 lbs.,

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Reach:
Reach is the maximum distance a robot can reach within its work
envelope.

Precision (validity):
 Precision is defined as how accurately a specified point can be

reached.

Repeatability (variability):
 Repeatability is how accurately the same position can be reached

if the motion is repeated many times

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 5.4 Basic robot motions

 Six degrees of freedom

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Arm and body motions:
1. Vertical transverse: up-and-down motions of the arm, caused
by pivoting the entire arm about a horizontal axis or moving the
arm along a vertical slide

2. Radial transverse: extension and retraction of the arm (in-and-

out movement)

3. Rotational transverse: rotation about the vertical axis (right or

left swivel of the robot arm)

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4. Wrist swivel: rotation of the wrist.

5. Wrist bend: up-or-down movement of the wrist, which also

involves a rotational movement.

6. Wrist yaw: right-or-left swivel of the wrist.

Motion systems

 Similar to NC machine tool systems, the motion systems of

industrial robots can be classified as either point-to-point (PTP)

or contouring (also called continuous path).
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 Other technical features
 Numerous other technical features of an industrial robot which

determine its efficiency and effectiveness at performing a given task.

(1) Work volume

(2) Precision of movement (Spatial resolution, Accuracy and Repeatability)

(3) Speed of movement

(4) Weight-carrying capacity

(5) Type of drive system

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1. Precision of movement

 The precision with which the robot can move the end of its wrist is a

critical consideration in most applications.

 In robotics, precision of movement is a complex issue, and can be

described by three attributes

1. Spatial resolution

2. Accuracy

3. Repeatability

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2. Type of drive system

 There are three basic drive systems used in commercially available

robots:

1. Hydraulic drive systems are usually associated with large robots,

and this drive system adds to the floor space required by the robot.
Advantages which this type of system gives to the robot are
mechanical simplicity, high strength, and high speed.

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2. Robots driven by electric motors (dc stepping motors or
servomotors) do not possess the physical strength or speed of
hydraulic units, but their accuracy and repeatability is generally better.
Less floor space is required due to the absence of the hydraulic power
unit.

3. Pneumatically driven robots are typically smaller and

technologically less sophisticated than the other two types. Pick-and-
place tasks and other simple, high-cycle-rate operations are examples
of the kinds of applications usually reserved for these robots

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 5.5 Actuators & end effector
ACTUATORS
 Actuators are the muscles of robots.

 The actuator must have enough power to accelerate and

decelerate the links and to carry the loads, yet be light,

economical, accurate, responsive, reliable, and easy to maintain

Electric motors Hydraulic actuators

Servomotors Pneumatic actuators
Stepper motors Shape memory metal actuators
Direct-drive electric motors Magnetostrictive actuators

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End effector
a) Grippers
 Grippers are end effectors used to grasp and hold objects.

 These part-handling applications include machine loading and

unloading, picking parts from a conveyor, and arranging parts onto a

pallet.

Mechanical Grippers:.
Vacuum cups
Magnetic Grippers

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b) Tools as end effectors
In most of the robot applications in which a tool is manipulated, the
tool is attached directly to the robot wrist. In these cases the tool is the
end effector. Some examples of tools used as end effectors in robot
applications include:

 Spot-welding tools
 Rotating spindles
 Arc-welding torch  wire brushing
 Spray-painting nozzle  Grinding

 Water jet cutting tool  Heating torches

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 5.6 Robot applications
 Robots are best suited to work in environments where humans

cannot perform the tasks.

 Robots have already been used in many industries and for many

purposes.

 They can often perform better than humans and at lower costs.

 Machine loading  Manufacturing

 Pick and place operations  Hazardous environments
 Welding  Medical applications
 Painting  Assisting disabled
 Inspection individuals
 Sampling  Underwater, space, and
 Assembly operations remote locations
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 5.7 Advantages and disadvantages of robots
Advantages robots limited capabilities
 Increase, productivity, safety,  Degrees of freedom
efficiency, quality, and consistency  Dexterity
of products.  Sensors

 Robots can work in hazardous  Vision systems

environments  Real-time response

 Robots need no environmental comfort  Robots are costy

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 5.8 Robotic sensors
These senses and capabilities include vision and hand.

1. Vision sensors

2. Tactile and proximity sensors

3. Voice sensors eye coordination, touch, and hearing.

1. Vision sensors:

 Robot vision is made possible by means of a video camera, a

sufficient light source, and a computer programmed to process

image data.

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 The computer software enables the vision system to sense the

presence of an object and its position and orientation.

2. Tactile and proximity sensors:

Tactile sensors provide the robot with the capability to respond to

contact forces between itself and other objects within its work
volume.

Tactile sensors can be divided into two types:

1. Touch sensors

2. Stress sensors (also called force sensors)

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3. Voice sensors:

 Another area of robotics research is voice sensing or voice

programming. Voice programming can be defined as the oral

communication of commands to the robot or other machine.

 The robot controller is equipped with a speech recognition system

which analyses the voice input and compares it with a set of stored
word patterns.

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 5.9 Programming of the robot

(a) Manual method:

This method is not really programming in the conventional sense of

the world. used for the simpler robots and involves setting mechanical
stops, cams, switches, or relays in the robot’s control unit.

(b) Walkthrough method:

In this method the programmer manually moves the robot’s arm and
hand through the motion sequence of the work cycle. The
walkthrough method would be appropriate for spray painting and
arc welding robots.
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(c) Lead through method:

The lead through method makes use of a teach pendant to power

drive the robot through its motion sequence.

(d) Off-line programming:

This method involves the preparation of the robot program off-line,

in a manner similar to NC part programming.

39 Department of Mechanical Engineering (MT) 3/23/2023

 5.10 Vision system
 Machine vision (other names include computer vision and artificial
vision) is an important sensor technology with potential applications
in many industrial operations.

 Many of the current applications of machine vision are in inspection;

 Machine vision is concerned with the sensing of vision data and its
interpretation by a computer.

 The typical vision system consists of the camera and digitizing

hardware, a digital computer, and hardware and software
necessary to interface them.
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 Sensing and digitizing image data

 Image processing and analysis

 Application

 The current applications of machine vision in robotics include

inspection, part identification, location, and orientation.

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 Computer vision has become an indispensable part of an

“intelligent” robotic system.

 The use of vision and other sensing schemes is motivated by the

continuing need to increase the flexibility and scope of

applications of robotic systems.

 Although proximity, touch, and force sensing play a significant

role in the improvement of robot performance, vision is recognized

as the most powerful robot sensory capability

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 Robot vision may be defined as the process of extracting,

characterizing, and interpreting information from images of a three-

dimensional world.

 This process, also commonly referred to as machine or computer

vision, may be subdivided into six principal areas:

(1) sensing, (2) pre-processing, (3) segmentation, (4) description, (5)

recognition, and (6) interpretation.

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Robot vision is divided into three fundamental tasks:

1. image transformation,

2. image analysis,

3. image understanding.

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Image transformation
 involves the conversion of light images to electrical signals that can be
used by a computer.
Image analysis
 Once a light image is transformed to an electronic image, it may be
analysed to extract such image information as object edges, regions,
boundaries, color, and texture. This process is called image analysis.
Image understanding.
 once the image is analysed, a vision system must interpret what the
image represents in terms of information about its environment. This is
called image understanding.
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