Industrial Robotics

● Introduction
● Robot Anatomy and Related Atributes
oJoints and Links
oCommon Robot Configurations
oJoint Drive Systems
● Robot Control Systems
● End Effectors
oGrippers
oTools
● Industrial Robot Application
oMaterial Handling Applications
oProcessing Operations
oAssembly and Inspection
● Robot Programming
Industrial Robotics-Introduction
Industrial Robotics
What is industrial robot?
General purpose programmable machine
-has arms to perform various industrial task
-respond to sensor inputs
-communicate with other machines
-make decision

Importance of Industrial robots: ( Fukushima Atomic Power

Plant, robots making robots at Fanuc, robots in car production
etc.)
-use in hazardous and uncomfortable work environments
-consistency and repeatability
-easy to reprogram
-easy to connect with other computer systems
Industrial Robotics-Anatomy and relate d a
ttributes

● Robot manipulators consists of joints and links

Joints -provide relative motion between two parts of body
-provide the robot DOF
-almost in all cases one joint gives one dof.
Links -rigid components of the robot manipulator

● Types of joint
oLinear joint (type L joint)
oOrthogonal joint (type O joint)
oRotational joint (type R joint)
oTwisting joint (type T joint)
oRevolving joint (type V joint)
Industrial Robotics-Anatomy and related
attributes

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Source internet
Industrial Robotics-Anatomy and related
attributes

Five types of robot joints. Source internet

Common Robot Configuration
Sections of a robot manipulator are
1) Body-and-arm assembly
2) Wrist assembly

Body-and-arm configurations:
For a three-dof robot manipulator with the five common joints
there will be 5x5x5= 125 different combinations of joints.
However only five are used in commercial industrial robots:
1) Polar configuration
2) Cylindrical configuration
3) Cartesian coordinate robot
4) Jointed-arm robot and
5) SCARA (Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm)
Industrial Robotics-Body-and-arm
configurations
Polar configuration
-Sliding arm (L-joint)
-Rotates about horizontal
and vertical axis.

Cylindrical configuration
-An arm assembly moves
up-and-down along a
vertical column.
-arm can be moved in and out
relative to column axis.
-Here a T-joint rotates the
column and O-joint gives radial
movement of the arm.
Industrial Robotics-Body-and-arm conf ig
urations
Cartesian coordinate robot
-also called rectilinear or x-
y-z robot.
-Composed of three sliding LOO
joints

Jointed arm robot

-a vertical column swivels
about the base using T- TRR
joint.
-A shoulder joint (R joint)
and
-Elbow joint (R joint)

Source: Ref. book

Industrial Robotics-Body-and-arm conf ig
urations

Source: Ref. book

VRO

SCARA-Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm

-looks like jointed arm robot.
-but shoulder and elbow joints have verticle axises.
-very rigid and useful in insertion tasks.
 Wrist Assembly

Wrist establishes the orientation of the end effector. Usually

consists of three dof.
● Roll-accomplishes rotation about the robot's arm axis. (T joint)
● Pitch-involves up-and-down rotation. (typically R joint)
● Yaw-involves right-and-left rotation. (typically R joint)
 Joints notations, work volume.

Joint Notation System

● Polar-TRL
● Cylindrical-TLO
● Cartesian coordinate-LOO
● Jointed arm-TRR
● SCARA-VRO

Work volume
-also called work envelope.
-envelop or space within which the robot can manipulate the end
of its wrist.
-determined by the number and types of joints, ranges of joints,
physical size of the links.
 Joint Drive systems

Three types of drive systems are used to actuate joints:

● Electric drive
-uses electric motors like servo motor, stepping motor
-used in sophisticated industrial robots
-readily adaptable to computer control system.
-relatively more accurate
● Hydraulic drive
- uses linear piston and rotary vane
- used in sophisticated industrial robots
-has greater speed and strength
● Pneumatic drive
-also uses linear piston and rotary vane
- used in smaller robots, simple material transfer system.
 Joint Drive systems

Dynamic response characteristics of manipulators

depends on:
● Drive system,
● Position sensors and
● Feedback control system

Important factors in drive systems

● Speed (large robot has ~2m/sec)
● Acceleration and deceleration (0 to 60km/hr in
4sec for sports cars)
● Weight of the object
● Stability
● Speed of response, stability
 Control system

Controls individual joints in a coordinated fashion for the

manipulator to perform a desired motion cycle.
-Microprocessor based
-Controller is organized in a hierarchical structure.
-each joint has its own feedback control system.
-supervisory controller coordinates the combined actuations of
the joints
Understanding Control system:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f32SDx3C6sA&ab_channel=ScienceChannelScienceCh
annel – open loop vs closed loop
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BwUMk10WqI&ab_channel=Lesics –Drone control
 Types of Controller
● Limited sequence control
-is used for simple motion cycles, such as pick and place
-uses setting limits or mechanical stops
-no servo control for precise positioning.

● Playback with point-to-point

-memory records the sequence of motion
-individual position of the robot arm are recorded in memory

● Playback with continuous path control

-has greater storage and interpolation capacity
-Servo control continuously regulate the position and speed

● Intelligent control
-interact with environment, make decision, communicate etc.
Understanding Controller Types:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhTaP3y6qvw&t=292s&ab_channel=
Saba%27sAcademy2020Saba%27sAcademy2020 – Time: 0:00 to 4:33
 End
Effectors
End effector is usually attached to robot's wrist, custom-engineered
and fabricated for each different application. Two categories of
end effectors are:
● Grippers: grasp and manipulate object during work cycle.
- Types are mechanical grippers, vacuum grippers, magnetized
grippers, adhesive grippers, simple mechanical devices.
● Tools:
o spot welding
o arc welding
o spray painting gun
o rotating spindle for drilling, milling etc.
o assemble tool
o heating torch
o water jet cutting tool.
 Sensors
Sensors detects the physical variables of interest like
temperature, pressure force etc.
● Internal sensors control position and velocity of various
joints.
● External sensors coordinate the operation of robot with
other equipment in the cell.
Some advanced sensors:
● Tactile sensors
● Proximity sensors
● Optical sensors
● Machine vision
 Applications….. Cont.
Factors tend to promote the substitution of robots for
human labor are:
● Hazardous work environment for humans
● Repetitive work cycle
● Difficult handling for humans
● Multishift operation
● Infrequent changeovers
● Part position and orientation are established in the
work cell

Understanding Applications of different Robots:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhTaP3y6qvw&t=292s&ab_channel=
Saba%27sAcademy2020Saba%27sAcademy2020 – Full video
 Applications ….. Cont.
Applications can be classified in three categories:
● Material Handling
● Processing operations
● Assembly and inspection
Material Handling
Robot moves material from one place to another. Two
situations for material handling are:
● Material transfer: primary purpose is to pick up a part at one
location and place them at a new location. Basic applications are
pick-and-place, palletizing and depalletizing.
● Machine loading and/or unloading: die casting, plastic
molding, metal machining, forging, press working, heat
treating
 Applications ……cont.
Processing operations
Robot performs a processing operation on a workpart.
Robot is equipped with tool as its end effector. Examples
are:
● Spot welding
● Continuous arc welding
● Spray coating
● Other processing applications are
oDrilling, routing and other machining operation
oGrinding, wire brushing and similar operation
oWaterjet cutting
oLaser cutting
oRiveting
 Applications
Assembly and Inspection
-Combination of material handling and processing
-Assembly and inspection are labor intensive, highly repetitive and
boring. So robot is more suitable.
-Most important application for assembly is where mixture of similar
products/modules are produced in the same work cell.

-Inspection is necessary to ensure a given process has been

completed, parts have been added as specified and to identify
flaw in the raw materials or finished product.

-Part/finished product is placed in inspection or testing machine by

robot or robot manipulate a inspection device to test the product
 Industrial Robotics-Programming
Today three programming methods are used for industrial robots
● Teach Pendant Programming – online Programming
● Lead through programming- online Programming
● Computer like robot programming languages
● Off-line programming

● Video:
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-M1x6aWPs8&ab_channel=Roboti
qRobotiq
 Industrial Robotics-Programming
Teach Pendant Programming
• Task is taught to the robot by moving the manipulator through the
required motion cycle, simultaneously entering the program into
the controller memory for subsequent playback. Two leadthrough
programming are: powered lead through and manual lead through.
• Powered lead through method uses teach pendant to move the
robot arm at desired positions in sequence and record the
position in memory.
• Suitable for playback robots with point-to-point control.

• Videos:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnec0zuzqkA&ab_channel=
ArunDayalUdaiArunDayalUdai – for process understanding
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0gyzwWoxM&ab_channe
l=AnisHAMZAAnisHAMZA – for details: Time 0:00 to 1:46
 Industrial Robotics-Programming
Lead through programming
• Suitable for playback robots with continuous path control.

• Videos:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0gyzwWoxM&ab_channe
l=AnisHAMZAAnisHAMZA – time: 1:47- up to the end
Industrial Robotics-Programming
Robot programming languages

Textual statements are used for motion programming.

Examples are:
MOVE P1
HERE P1

Off-line programming
No need to take the robot out of production. Allow to prepare
the program in a remote place and then after simulation
the program can be loaded into the memory.
 END
Of
Industrial Robotics
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Discrete Control
-Discrete control systems deal with parameters and variables that
change at discrete moments in time.
-Parameters, variables are themselves are discrete, typically binary.
They can be either of two values-1 or 0, true or false, ON or OFF,
object present or not present, high voltage or low voltage
-Input signals to controller generally generated by binary sensors like
limit switch, photo sensors.
-Output turn on and off switches, motors, valves and other binary
actuators related to the process.
-Two categories are:
● Logic control-concern with event driven changes
● Sequencing- concern with time-driven changes in the system.
PLCs
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Logic Control
-A logic control system is a switching system whose output at any
moment is determined exclusively by the values of inputs. It has no
memory and does not consider previous values of inputs.

Example: A robot picks up a part at some point on a conveyor belt and

place the part into a forging press. To initiate the loading cycle
● raw part must be at the specific point (simple limit switch can sense)
● process on the previous part must be completed (machine can send
signal)
● previous part must be removed from the die (a photo detector can
detect the presence or absence of the part)
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs

Elements of logic control

-Three basic elements of logic control:

● AND-output is 1 only when all inputs are 1
● OR-output is 1 if either of the inputs is 1
● NOT-output is 1 when input is 0 and vise versa

-Two more elements are:

● NAND-combining an AND and a NOT gates in sequence.
● NOR-combining an OR and a NOT gates in sequence.
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs

AND-output is 1 only when all OR-output is 1 if either of the

inputs are 1 inputs is 1

Source:http://www.technologystudent.com/elec1/dig2.htm
Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs

Symbols and truth tables

 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Example of logic network diagram
A push button switch consists of a box with two switches, one for
START and the other for STOP. When START button is depressed
momentarily by a human operator, power is supplied to a motor
until the stop button is pressed. What will be the logic network
diagram and truth table for the push-button switch?
Here, values of variables are:
START = 0 (normally open contact status)
START = 1 (when START is pressed)
STOP = 0 (normally closed contact status)
STOP = 1 (when STOP is pressed to break contact)
MOTOR = 0 when off
MOTOR = 1 when on
POWER-TO-MOTOR = 0 when contacts are open
POWER-TO-MOTOR = 1 when contacts are closed
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Example of logic network diagram

Here, values of variables are:

START = 0 (normally open contact status)
START = 1 (when START is pressed)
STOP = 0 (normally closed contact status)
STOP = 1 (when STOP is pressed to break
contact)
MOTOR = 0 when off
MOTOR = 1 when on
POWER-TO-MOTOR = 0 when contacts are
open
POWER-TO-MOTOR = 1 when contacts are
closed
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Sequencing
• Uses internal timing devices to determine when to
initiate changes in the output variables.

• Example : Washining machine, drier, dishwasher etc.

Industrial applications: heating by induction coil, in such
case there is no feed back (open-loop system).

• Common sequencing elements: timer, drum timer,

counters
• Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcJbbG1x2Y&ab_ch
annel=Saba%27sAcademy2020Saba%27sAcademy2020
Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Ladder Logic diagram
● Exhibits the logic
● (to some extent) timing
and sequencing
● Looks like electrical
circuit
● rung-horizontal lines
along which logic
elements and other
components are
displayed
Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
Ladder Logic diagram Examples

Top: Push button switch

Bottom: Control relay to actuate two motors
Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
PLC and its Components

PLC can be defined as a microcomputer-based controller

that uses stored instructions in programmable memory to
implement logic, sequencing, timing, counting, and
arithmetic functions through digital or analog input/output
modules, for controlling machines or process.
-Primarily associated with discrete manufacturing to control
machines, transfer lines, and material handling equipments.

Advantages of PLCs over relays: easier than wiring relay

control panel, reprogrammable, compact, more reliable,
more functionality
Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
PLC and its Components
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
PLC and its Components

1. Processor: Executes various logic and sequencing functions based

on the PLC inputs to determine appropriate output.
2. Memory unit: contains the programs of logic, sequencing and I/O
operations. Also holds data files associated with these programs,
including input/output status bits, counter and timer constants,
and other variable and parameter values.
3. Power supply: supply the power required for the PLC and also to
operate some equipments.
4. I/O module: Provides the connection to the industrial equipment
or processes that is to controlled.
5. Programming device: is used to program PLC. Usually detachable
like teach pendant, keyboard with LCD/CRT display
 Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
PLC Operation Cycle

Typical operation cycle of the PLC is know as SCAN. It consists of

three parts.
1. Input scan: inputs to the PLCs are read and stored in the memory.
2. Program scan: control program is executed during this scan. Input
values are used to determine appropriate outputs.
3. Output scan: outputs are update to agree with the calculated
values.

Scan time: time to perform the scan. It depends on number of inputs

to be read, complexity of the control function and number of
outputs that must be changed. It also depends on the clock speed of
the processor. Rang is 1~25msec.
What will happen if input changes faster than scan time?
 Sample Microcontroller


ATmega328P
Discrete Control Using PLCs and PCs
PC Using Soft Logic
Before 90s, PLCs were always seen to have advantage of
being designed for harsh environment, with built in I/O
interface PLCs can be readily connected to the industrial
equipments. However compared to PLCs,
-PCs have much greater frequency than PLCs
-Speed of PC is increasing much more rapidly
-In case of PCs, proprietary software and architecture are
limited.
-PCs are now available in more sturdy enclosures, have
membrane type keyboard, I/O cards/hardware to interface
with the factory equipments are easily available.
-Now PCs have software (soft-logic) to emulate the operations
of the built-in software used in PLCs