CAI3034 Prepared by Ooi W.S.

Work envelope
The work envelope refers to the working volume which can be reached by some point at the end
of the Robot arm. It is sometimes also referred as the work space.

It is important for manufacturers to work with robotic companies or integrators to determine how
much robotic workspace is needed when designing the system. If a facility is too small, it may not be
suited for a large robot, or the robot’s operation may be destructive. One thing that is necessary is that
human workers stay out of a robot’s workspace during operation. While humans may be able to enter
each other’s workspace, entering a robot’s workspace could result in injury or death, due to the amount
of speed and force with which a robot works.

Cartesian robot Cylindrical robot

Cartesian robot has a cubic or rectangular work Cylindrical robot has a cylindrical work envelope.
envelope

Characteristics Characteristics
 Cartesian robot has three linear movements. There  Two linear movements, one rotational. The cylinder
are no dead zones within the working envelope is hollow, since there is a limit to how far the arm
and the robot can manipulate its maximum payload can retract, this creates a cylindrical dead zone
throughout the working volume. around the robot structure
Advantages Advantages
 Cartesian robot has rigid structure and thus usually  Cylindrical robot is good for reaching deep into
can offer good levels of precision and repeatability machines, save on floor space, and tend to have
the rigid structure needed for large payloads.
Applications
 Cartesian robot is used for pick and place work, Applications
assembly operations, handling machine tools and  Cylinder robots are used in assembly operations,
arc welding handling of machine tools, spot welding, and
handling at die cast machines.

Spherical robots / Polar robot Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA)
Spherical robots has a spherical work envelope SCARA robot has kidney shaped prism of work
envelope, having a circular hole passing through the
middle.

Characteristics Characteristics
 A spherical robot has 1 linear axis, 2 rotating axes  A SCARA robot has 1 linear axis, 2 rotating axes
 Long horizontal reach but with short vertical reach
Advantages
Advantages  Excellent repeatability and fast cycle times
 Rigid structure and easily visualize  Large workspace
 Large workspace for size  Height axis is rigid
 Easily computed kinematics.
Applications
Applications  Pick-and-place or assembly operations where high
 Palletizing, loading and unloading speed and high accuracy is required.
 Material transfer, foundry and forging
Robot Manipulator Workspaces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIRZeYgcG5E

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Generally, a robot’s workspace can be classified into reachable workspace and dexterous
workspace.

The reachable workspace is the volume whereby the end-effector is capable of reaching each point
within the space in at least one orientation. For the reachable workspace, the outer radius is
R1   1   2   3 and the inner radius is r1  max  1   2   3 ,  2   3   1 ,  1   3   2 , 0 .

The dexterous workspace has the end-effector capable of reaching all points in all orientations.
For the dexterous workspaces, outer radius is R2   1   2   3 and the inner radius is r2   1   2   3 .

r1
R1

r2
R2

For example,
For the reachable workspace, the end-effector of that workspace can reach:
Link length (m) 1   2   3  2   3  1 1   3   2 r1 R1
 1 = 3,  2 = 1,  3 = 1 1 -3 1 1 5
 1 = 3,  2 = 1,  3 = 2 0 -2 0 6
0
 1 = 3,  2 = 2,  3 = 1 0 -2 0 6
0
For the dexterous workspace, the end-effector of that workspace can reach:
Link length (m) r2   1   2   3 R2   1   2   3
 1 = 3,  2 = 1,  3 = 1 3-1+1 =3 3+1-1= 3
 1 = 3,  2 = 1,  3 = 2
 1 = 3,  2 = 2,  3 = 1

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For a robot manipulator to be able to arbitrarily position and orientate an object in 3D space, the
manipulator should have 6 degrees of freedom, i.e., 3 for positioning a point on the object and 3 for
orienting the object with respect to a reference coordinate frame. Specifically, the body is free to
change position as forward/backward (surge), up/down (heave), left/right (sway) translation in three
perpendicular axes, combined with changes in orientation through rotation about three perpendicular
axes, often termed yaw (normal axis), pitch (transverse axis), and roll (longitudinal axis).

Industrial robotic and automation

An industrial robot is a programmable, multi-functional manipulator designed to move
materials, parts, tools, or special devices through variable programmed motions for the performance
of a variety of tasks.

There are three type of actuators commonly used in the industrial applications:

 Electric actuator use power screw with motor which required electric power. Rotary motion of
motor is converted in linear motion using leadscrew and belt mechanism. Electric actuator is
reliable, low maintenance, does not leak and suitable for clean room, better control and thus good
for high precision robots. However, it has low stiffness, needs reduction gears, and motor needs
braking device when not powered.

Motor and leadscrew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCcC8wMECvQ

Motor and belt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lK5fJWGqd0

A servo motor is made up of a small DC motor, a gear transmission which reduces speed and
increases strength, and a small circuit control that makes it possible to move the motor accurately.

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A typical Servo motor has three wires known as power, ground, and control. Servo motor usually does
not rotate freely. Its rotation span is approximate 200 to 250 degree, except for the Parallax
continuous rotation servo which can rotate freely. Servo motor requires a driver circuit.

DC motor and shaft encoder could be an equivalent to servo motor, but without the gear arrangement
part. Hence, it will have less torque than the servo motor. Servo motor has all the parts inside a single
package and hence easy to use and compact as compared to the DC motors with encoders. Due to
the absence of gear, DC motor with encoders is easier to repair and with no wear and tear problem.
However, the servo motor will bring more accurate control.

DC motor DC motor with shaft encoder Servo motor Internal parts of servo motor

The limitations of DC motors with encoders:

Inaccurate wheel diameter measurement or misaligned wheels, the error of estimated position is
generated by friction of ground surface, some encoders which are installed externally are susceptible
to dirt, oil and dust contaminates,it will lead to error accumulation over time

 In hydraulic actuator, pressurized oil is used for actuator. actuator are generally hydraulic
cylinder (linear) or motor(rotary). Hydraulic actuator is rugged, strong and can withstand a wide
variety of environments. It can hold force and torque at a constant due to the incompressibility of
the fluids. Additionally, these actuators can keep their pumps and motors stationed a considerable
distance from the movement component with little loss of power. The largest issues within
hydraulics is they do often leak fluids which leads to inefficiency and other contamination issues,
potentially damaging other parts of the total application. However, the largest disadvantage to
using hydraulic actuators is the incredible amount of operator-support needed to maintain,
monitor, program, and use these mechanisms. It is also often very difficult to achieve correct
settings the first time. Once everything is set up with the hydraulic actuator, the operator must still
monitor for maintenance concerns, temperature changes (in fear of overheating or not reaching
key performance due to the cold changing the consistency of the oil), and leakage.

 In pneumatic actuator, compressed air is required for actuator. Same as hydraulic actuator
pneumatic actuator are cylinder(linear) or motor(rotary). Pneumatic actuator is inexpensive and
simple, clean, good for on-off applications and for pick and pace. However, it is noisy and require
air pressure and filter, difficult to control their linear position, very low stiffness and inaccuracy
response.

A robot manipulator is an electronically controlled mechanism, consisting of multiple

segments, that performs tasks by interacting with its environment. They are also commonly referred
to as robotic arms.

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The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a branch of the larger type of technology
collectively known as the Internet of Things (IoT). IIoT can be implemented and applied to robotic
systems to monitor, collect, examine, and verify valuable results. More algorithms were tested out to
improve the awareness and interaction capabilities of robots. More data were obtained and could be sent
to cloud-based server which was then shared with various users in a more productive way. By combining
machine-to-machine communication, secure networking, and big data analytics, IIoT empowers the
robotic systems with increased efficiency, productivity, as well as optimized performance.

Consideration when implementing industrial robot automation:

Safety issue.
 Industrial robots introduce many new safety hazards into the workplace.
 Manufacturers have to prepare for this before the robots are installed to ensure compliance and create
a safe environment for workers.

Employee Skill and Training.

 When new robotic systems are implemented, a new level of expertise is required from employees.
 Many will have to be trained on how to operate in this new environment, while other employees will
have to be hired that have the proper certifications, education, and robotic experience

Machine Interference
Machine interference occurs when two or more machines are being serviced by one robot. It can
be measured as the total idle time of all the machines in the cell as compared to the robot cycle time.
The measure is commonly expressed as a percent as follows,

Total idle time of machine, Ti

Machine interference = _______________________ × 100%
Total cycle time of robot, Tc

Total cycle time for each machine, Tc = processing time, Tm + robot/worker servicing time, Ts
(machine run time) (robot/worker loading and unloading)

Total cycle time for each machine, Tc

Maximum number of machines in the cell = ____________________________________________
robot/worker servicing time, Ts + repositioning time , Tr

Example 1:
A four-machine cell in which a robot is used to load and unload the machines. Each of the three machines is
identical with identical cycle times of 70 s. This cycle time is divided between run time (50 s) and service
time (load/unload) by the robot (20 s). If each machine has an idle time of 8 seconds during its cycle while
the robot is fully occupied throughout its work cycle, calculate the machine interference of the work cell.

 In the example, when the robot cycle time is greater than the machine cycle time, there will be resulting
machine interference. If the machine cycle time is greater than the robot cycle time, there will no machine
interference, but the robot will be idle for part of the cycle. In cases where the service and run times of the
machines are different, the above relationships become complicated by the problem of determining the
best sequence of servicing times for the machines into the robot cycle time.

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Example 2:
In a machine cluster which produces industrial products, an industrial robot will service n production
machines. Each production machine is identical and has an automatic processing time Tm = 40 seconds.
The robot servicing time for each machine is given by the equation Ts= 10 + 3n, where Ts is the servicing
time in seconds. Ts increases with n because more time is needed to move the robot arm as n increases.
The full cycle time for each machine in the cell is Tc = Tm + Ts.
a) Determine the maximum number of machines in the cell such that there is no machine interference.
b) Compute the machine cycle time Tc.
c) Compute the robot work time.
d) Compute the robot idle time and machine idle time as a percent of the cycle time Tc.
e) Determine the hourly production rate of this machine cluster.

Example 3:
In a machine cluster, the appropriate number of production machines to assign to the worker is to be
determined. Let n = the number of machines. Each production machine is identical and has an automatic
processing time Tm = 4 minutes. The servicing time Ts= 12s for each machine. The full cycle time for each
machine in the cell is Tc = Tm + Ts. The repositioning time for the worker is given by Tr = 5 + 3n, where Tr in
seconds. Tr increases with n because the distance between machines increases with more machines.
a) Determine the maximum number of machines in the cell if no machine idle time is allowed.
b) Compute the machine cycle time Tc.
c) Compute the worker idle time expressed as a percent of the cycle time.

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Example 4: