LESSON

INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS

Industrial robots
& manipulators
Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación
Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 CONTENTS
LESSON

5
1. DESCRIPTION AND STRUCTURE OF NUMERICAL CONTROL MACHINE TOOLS
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
1.1. NUMERICAL CONTROL OPERATIONS
1.2. SERVOMECHANISM LOOP. POSITION AND SPEED CONTROL
1.3. MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
1.4. DRIVES
1.5. TRANSMISSION COMPONENTS AND GUIDES
1.6. TOOL HOLDERS AND TOOL TURRETS
2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATOR
2.1. CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS
2.2. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF ROBOTS
2.3. KINEMATIC CONFIGURATIONS
2.4. MECHANICAL COMPONENTS AND SUBSYSTEMS
2.4.1. GRIPPERS, TERMINAL ELEMENTS AND TOOLS.
2.5. ONLINE AND OFFLINE PROGRAMMING

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

Introduction
5
Types of robots:
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS • Androids
• Mobile
• Industrial
• Medical
• Tele-operators

Industrial robot (ISO 8373): Industrial robot is automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in
three or more axes, which can be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.
Robot manufacturers:
• ABB Robotics AB, Sweden
• KUKA Roboter GmbH
• Staubli, CH
• Mitsubishi INDUSTRIAL ROBOT
• Fanuc,
• Kawasaki
vs
• Universal Robots COBOT
• …

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

Morphology
5
Functional units of a robot:
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
• Mechanical structure

• Sensorial system (sensors)

• Actuation system (actuators)

• Control system (controller)

• Transmission elements

• Terminal elements

• Auxiliary input and output devices

• Power supply systems

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON
Controller
5 Morphology Manipulator
❑ Mechanical structure
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS • Arm or manipulator
• Controller
• Data input and output devices
• End effectors

End effector

Teach
pendant

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Mechanical structure
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
Manipulator: Machine in which the mechanism usually consists of a series of segments, jointed or sliding relative to one another, for the
purpose of grasping and/or moving objects (pieces or tools) usually in several degrees of freedom.
• Body
• Arm
• Wrist
• Final actuator (grippers,
suction cups, tools, etc.)

Body and arms:

• Each joint provides the robot with, at least, a degree of freedom.
• There are two types of motions:
− Translational motion: Linear joint (Type L) and Orthogonal joint (Type O)
− Rotary motion: Rotational joint (Type R), Twisting joint (Type T) and Revolving joint (Type V)

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology
Wrist rotate
❑ Mechanical structure
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
Wrist:
• The wrist of a manipulator has the following movements or degrees of freedom:
− elevation (wrist flex)
− deviation (wrist rotate)
Wrist flex
− rotation (hand rotate) Hand rotate
Final actuator:
• Device that is attached to the wrist of the robot’s arm to activate it for the realization of a specific task.
• Types:
− grippers
− tools
• Tool Center Point (TCP): Reference point of the gripper or tool

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Sensorial system (sensors)

INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
In order for a robot to perform its task with the adequate accuracy, speed and intelligence, it will need to be aware of both its own state
and the state of its environment.

• Internal sensors: they obtain the information related to its state (basically, the position of its joints).

• External sensors: they obtain the information related to the state of its environment.
Internal sensors of robots External sensors of robots
Potentiometers Triangulation
Resolver Range detection Structural lighting method
Analog Synchro Time-of-flight rangefinder
Inductosyn
Position LVDT Potentiometrics
Capacitive sensors
Absolute encoders Differential transformers
Proximity detection Hall effect based sensors
Digital Incremental encoders
Optical rule Optical encoder
Ultrasound sensors
Speed Plug-generator
Contact sensors
Inductive
Capacitive Force and torsion detection
Hall effect
Presence Reed cell
Optical
Ultrasound
Contact
Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación
Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Actuation system (actuators)

INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
Generate the movements of the robot elements following the orders given by the control unit.

They are classified into three main groups, depending on the energy they use:

• Pneumatic

• Hydraulic
Characteristics of the different types of robot actuators
• Electric Pneumatic Hydraulic Electric
Characteristics: Compressed air Mineral oil
Energy Electrical power
(5-10 bar) (50-100 bar)
Direct current
Cylinders Cylinders
Alternating current
Options Vane motor Vane motor
Stepper motor
Piston motor Axial piston motor
Servomotor
Fast Accurate
Cheap
High power-to-weight ratio Reliable
Fast
Advantages Self-lubricating Easy control
Simple
High load capacity Simple installation
Robust
Stability against static loads Quiet
Difficult continuous Difficult maintenance
control Special installation (filters, air
Disadvantages Special installation removal) Limited power
(compressor, filters) Frequent leaks
Noisy Expensive
Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación
Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Control system (controller)

INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
It regulates each of the manipulator’s movements, actions, calculations and information processing.

It receives and sends signals to other machines-tools (through input/output signals) and stores programs.

There are several degrees of control which are a function of the type of parameters that are regulated:

• positional: the controller only intervenes in controlling the position of the terminal element;

• kinematic: the control is done on the position and the speed;

• dynamic: besides regulating speed and position, it controls the dynamic properties of the manipulator;

• adaptative: it encompasses all the above mentioned and controls the variation of the manipulator’s characteristics when the
position varies.

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Transmission elements
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
They are the elements in charge of transmitting the movement from the actuators to the articulations.

They will be included together with the transmissions to the reducers, responsible for adapting the torque and speed of the actuator
output to the appropriate values for the movement of the robot elements.
Transmission systems for robots

Input-Output Denomination Advantages Disadvantages

Gear
Clearances
Toothed belt
High pairs Noise
Circular-Circular Chain
Long distance Limited twist
Parallelogram
Deformability
Cable

Worm screw Low clearance

Circular-Linear Friction
Rack Medium clearance

Articulated
Difficult control
Linear-Circular parallelogram Medium clearance
Friction
Rack

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Terminal elements
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
They are the robot’s peripheral devices.

They can be divided into two categories:

• Grippers: used to catch an object, usually a workpiece, and drop it during the robot’s work cycle.

• Tools: used as a final actuator in applications where the robot is required to perform any operation over the workpiece.

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Auxiliary input and output devices

INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
The most common are:

• keyboard

• monitor

• teach pendant

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Morphology

❑ Special devices
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
These devices include the shafts that facilitate the transverse movement of the manipulator and the assembly stations, which are used to
clamp the different workpieces.

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Main characteristics of the robots

• Degrees of freedom
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS • Workspace
• Movement accuracy
• Payload capacity
• Speed
• Types of actuators
• Programmability

❑ Degrees of freedom
The number of the robot’s degrees of freedom is given by the sum of the DOF of the joints that form it.

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Main characteristics of the robots

❑ Workspace
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
The dimensions of the manipulator elements, together with the
degrees of freedom, define the workspace of the robot, a fundamental
characteristic in the selection and implementation phases of the
appropriate model.

The working volume of a robot refers only to the space in which the
end of its wrist can move.

According to the type of mechanical structure:

• Cartesian
• SCARA
• Articulated
• Parallel/Delta
• Spherical and cylindrical

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Main characteristics of the robots

❑ Workspace
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS

Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación

Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Main characteristics of the robots

❑ Accuracy of movements
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
It depends on three factors:

• Spatial resolution: The smallest increment of movement into which the robot can divide its work volume.
• Accuracy: Capacity of a robot to place its wrist end within the work volume at the desired target point. It works in conjunction with
spatial resolution. Robot’s accuracy is one-half of its spatial resolution.
• Repeatability: Ability of the robot to return to the programmed point when commanded to do so.

❑ Payload capacity
The amount of mass its wrist can support.

❑ Speed:
Maximum velocity that is achievable by the TCP, or by individual joints.

❑ Type of actuators:
Depending on the energy they consume; they can be of the following types:
• Olehydraulic
• Pneumatic
• Electric
Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación
Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería
 2. INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS AND MANIPULATORS
LESSON

5 Main characteristics of the robots

❑ Programmability
INDUSTRIAL
ROBOTS
The gestural and textual programming controls several aspects of the manipulator’s functioning:
• Speed and acceleration control.
• Conditional program jumps.
• Timings and pauses.
• Editing, modifying, debugging and expanding programs.
• Safety functions.
• Functions of synchronization with other machines.
• Use of robotics specific languages.
− ABB uses the RAPID language (1994)
− WAVE (1973): first programming language
− MCL Based on APT: learning language
− AL (1974)
− VAL (1979): replaced by VAL II in 1984 for PUMA robots
− KAREL: general purpose language
− XPROBE: created in 1981, it is a high-level language
− V+ created by ADEPT in 1989: it provides artificial vision operations.
− AUTOPASS, RAPT…
Área de Ingeniería de los Procesos de Fabricación
Departamento de Diseño en la ingeniería