Robotics and Automation

Presented by,
Dr M Zahid Ansari
Mechanical Engg., IIITDM Jabalpur
 Automation
• Factory automation can be defined as a discipline that
studies the methods and technologies that allow the
control of flows of energy, materials, and information
needed for the realization of production processes.
• The importance of automation in a modern production
process derives from a multiplicity of factors, not just
economic ones, among which are the following:
– The improvement of the quality of the products
– The opportunity to use the same production system
for different products in a concept known as flexibility
of the plant
– Shorter production times
2
 Cont’d
– The opportunity to reduce the number of incoming
and outgoing warehouses
– The drastic reduction of processing waste
Lowering the cost of production
– The need to comply with laws or regulations
– The opportunity to reduce the environmental impact
and save energy
– The improvement of the competitiveness of the
company as a whole
• In an automated system, we can identify the physical
processes and the control system, as shown in the
following diagram:
3
 Cont’d
Elements of an automated industrial system

4
 Cont’d
• Physical processes can be defined as the sum of the
operations that act on entities belonging to the physical
world and which change some of their characteristics.
• Operations that fit this definition include material or part
movements, mechanical processing, or chemical
reactions. These physical processes can be considered
objects of automation.
• A physical process receives raw materials and energy as
inputs. It also receives information, which can be in the
form of electric voltage, current values, or fluid pressure,
or which can be coded in sequences of binary values.

5
 Cont’d
• A physical process output materials in the form of
finished products and waste, and also sends information.
The noises coming from the environment that act on the
process can also be considered as inputs to the process
itself.
• The outgoing information is provided by appropriate
devices made by the following:
Sensor: Transforms the variable to be measured into the
type necessary for measurement
Transducer: Accepts information in the form of a physical
or chemical variable, and converts it into a magnitude of
a different nature—typically electric.

6
 Cont’d
• Very often, sensors and transducers coincide in the same
physical component. We generally call a device a sensor
(or a transducer) if it measures a magnitude and gives an
output as a signal, typically an electrical one.
• The incoming information is used by the actuators to set
the value of the control variables for the process.
• Usually, the real actuator is built by a pre-actuator, which
processes the information to convert it into a power
signal.
• Sensors, actuators, and pre-actuators carry out part of
the physical process and act as interfaces to the control
system.
7
 Cont’d
• A control system receives information on the status of
the process from the sensors and processes them
according to the specified algorithms.
• It then sends to the actuators information related to
actions that provide the desired control of the physical
process.
• The control system also receives information from one or
more external entities, such as human operators or other
control systems that are hierarchically higher.
• It is also able to provide information about its own status
and the controlled process to the external entities.

8
 Cont’d
• Automation and Controls includes all devices that
interact directly with the sensors and the actuators
implementing so the control and the safe functionalities
both for a single equipment and for working cells and
entire production lines; they are the followings:
– Remote terminal unit (RTU) is an electronic device
that is controlled by a microprocessor. It acts as an
interface for sensors, actuators, and intelligent devices
by transmitting data and receiving command
messages from a master system. It is basically used to
centralize the input and output to and from the
sensors and actuators by reducing the complexity of
their cabling and wiring.
9
 Cont’d
– Embedded controller is generally a single chip or board that
includes all the necessary components to carry out the
required control tasks. They are usually designed for a specific
application and are built on top of a specific or custom
hardware.
– Computer Numerical Controls (CNCs) are machine tools that
are controlled by an electronic device integrated into the
machine. Movements and functions of CNC machines are
predefined and set through a specific software. They are used
for performing high-precision machining that requires long
processing times without any interaction with the external
environment.

10
 Cont’d
– PLC is an industrial controller that is dedicated to the control of
industrial processes. The PLC executes a program in a cyclical
fashion, processing the signals coming as input from the
sensors and sending the output values to the actuators to
control the physical process. The reading of the inputs, their
processing, and finally the writing of the outputs, takes place
within a predefined maximum time, called a scan cycle. This
typically takes between 10 and 100 milliseconds.
– DCSs are typically used in continuous processes such as in
refineries, energy production, or chemical plants. They
integrate both the control function implemented in the PLC and
the supervision of the SCADA system. While the PLC and the
SCADA are two separate systems, each with their own variables
and data structures, in the DCS, the control and the supervision
of their processing tasks share the same variables and data
structures. 11
 Industrial processes
• Industrial processes can be classified by whether their
input and output is continuous or discrete.
• They can also be categorized by whether they belong to
the process industry or the manufacturing industry

12
 Cont’d
• Continuous processes involve the continuous mass
transformations of energy and momentum on a flow of
material.
• Continuous processes, which are also called industry or
process controls, are as follows:
– Energy production
– Distribution of energy, water, and gas
– Crude oil and gas extraction
– Rolling plants
– Hydraulic systems for the collection and distribution of liquids
or gases
– Ovens or driers
– Production of glass, cement, paper, expanded clay, and so on
13
 Cont’d
• Batch processes involve finite quantities of the final
product, which are obtained from finite quantities of raw
materials and then processed according to an ordered
set of activities in a finite time interval.
• Batch processes can be applied to the following:
– Products that are not processed in a fixed,
predetermined quantity.
– The quantity of the final product, which depends on
the recipe.
– Production processes that are interrupted after a lot
of processing has been done, before resuming again.
In this case, there are no parts that can be easily
separated and identified. 14
 Cont’d
– Equipment used for different products, but with an
intermediate cleaning phase needed.
• Typical examples of batch processes include the
following:
– Products made according to different formulas, but in
small or medium quantities, such as pharmaceuticals,
detergents, or plastics.
– Expensive products with a restricted market or
reduced life cycle, such as perfumes
– Products that require maturation, fermentation, or
mixing times in regulated conditions, such as wine,
beer, other alcoholic beverages, or oil.
15
 Cont’d
• Semi-continuous processes have some characteristics in
common with both continuous and batch processes.
• Typical examples of semi-continuous processes are the
following:
– Filtering or cleaning of gases or liquids
– Dehumidification of air
– Water treatment
– Separation of components in a continuous flow

16
 Cont’d
• Discrete processes are characterized by processing cycles
based on single parts or individual units of a product. In
a discrete process, both the raw materials and the final
product are countable.
• Typical examples of batch processes are as follows:
– Mechanical machining (such as turning, milling,
drilling, or welding), assembly, handling, welding,
painting, or quality control
– Transport of products, pallets, tools, belts, rollers,
conveyor chains, automatic guided trolleys or
autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) on fixed tracks,
magnetic tracks, or bridge carriages (over high
weights or long distances) 17
 Cont’d
– Buffers used to store up products (either raw, semi-
finished, or finished) or tools for managing ongoing
queues to an operating machine and absorbing
different processing speeds

18
 Cont’d
– Buffers used to store up products (either raw, semi-
finished, or finished) or tools for managing ongoing
queues to an operating machine and absorbing
different processing speeds

19
Cont’d

20
Cont’d

21
Cont’d

22
 Cont’d
• Automation — Automation means using computer software,
machines or other technology to carry out a task which would
otherwise be done by a human worker. There are many types of
automation, ranging from the fully mechanical to the fully virtual,
and from the very simple to complex.
• Robotics — Robotics is a branch of engineering which incorporates
multiple disciplines to design, build, program and use robotic
machines.
• Robots are used to automate some physical tasks, such as in
manufacturing. However, many types of automation have nothing
to do with physical robots. Also, many branches of robotics have
nothing to do with automation.
• Terms like Business Process Automation, Robotic Process
Automation, adaptive automation and test automation are some
types of automation.
23
 Cont’d
• If you can think of even one or two tasks which are repetitive or
cause a bottleneck, they may be a good candidate for automation.
• If they are physical tasks, industrial automation or robotics could
be the answer.
• If they are virtual tasks, a form of software automation might
work.
• Software Automation: It involves using software to carry out tasks
which humans usually do when they are using computer
programs.
• For example, GUI test automation is a way to test computer
programs. It involves recording the actions of a human while they
are using a graphical user interface. These actions are then
replayed to autonomously test the program after changes have
been made to the underlying software.
24
 Cont’d
• Business Process Automation (BPA) — This is a high-level strategy
to streamline business processes. It involves formalizing all
processes within the business and then integrating them into
automation software. Implementing BPA can involve dramatically
restructuring the business.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) — Despite its name, RPA has
nothing at all to do with physical robots. It refers to "software
robots" which are programmed to use computer programs in the
same way as a human operator would. They don't necessarily
complete tasks in the most efficient way, but they are easier to
integrate into the existing business processes.
• Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) — This is an extension of RPA
which uses artificial intelligence to learn how humans perform
tasks when using a computer program. This allows the "software
robots" to perform more intelligently than with the static rules
used in RPA. 25