Industrial robotics technology

1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE AND TRENDS   1

1.1 INTRODUCTION   1

1.2 THE CONCEPT   2

1.3 DEVELOPMENT, EVOLUTION, AND USE OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS   5

1.4 ADVANTAGES OF USING ROBOTS   12

1.5 APPLICATIONS   14

1.5.1 Materials handling   15

1.5.2 Manufacturing processing operations   15

1.5.3 Assembly   19

1.6 EVOLUTION OF ROBOT SYSTEMS    22

1.7 ONGOING AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS    24

1.8 FURTHER READING    26

2 GENERAL CONCEPTS AND TERMS   27

2.1 ROBOT SYSTEMS   27

2.2 DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION   31

2.3 MANIPULATOR   34

2.4 JOINTS AND LINKS   38

2.5 PROGRAMMING AND CONTROL   42

2.6 ROBOT PERFORMANCE AND SPECIFICATION    44

2.7 FURTHER READING   46

3 MECHANICAL STRUCTURE   47

3.1 THE MANIPULATOR SYST   48

3.1.1 Mobile platform   48

3.1.2 Arm or primary axes   50

3.1.3 Wrist or secondary axes   51

3.2 TOOL CENTRE POINT (TCP)   51

3.3 DEGREES OF FREEDOM (DOF) OF A MANIPULATING ARM   54

3.4 JOINTS AND LINKS   59

3.5 SERIAL ARM   64

3.6 SERIAL ROBOT TYPES   65

3.6.1 Articulated robot   65

3.6.2 Cartesian robot   66

3.6.3 Cylindrical robot   67

3.6.4 SCARA robot   68

3.6.5 Polar robot   68

3.7 PARALLEL ROBOT   70

3.8 OTHER ROBOT TYPES   72

3.9 WRIST   73

3.10 FURTHER READING   77

4 INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS IN AUTOMATION   79

4.1 PRINCIPLES OF APPLYING ROBOTS    79

4.2 PERFORMANCE OF A ROBOT   81

4.3 SAFETY-RELATED FUNCTIONS   90

4.4 TRENDS   93

4.5 FURTHER READING   95

5 APPLICATIONS AND PROCESSING OPERATIONS   97

5.1 OPERATING PARAMETERS   98

5.2 SUPPORTING EQUIPMENT   101

5.2.1 Feeding devices   101

5.2.2 Grippers and tool changers    105

5.2.3 Manufacturing processing equipment   109

5.2.4 Sensors   111

5.3 APPLICATIONS   115

5.3.1 Materials handling   115

5.3.2 Welding   116

5.3.3 Dispensing   118

5.3.4 Machining and material removal    119

5.3.5 Assembly   120

5.3.6 Collaboration   121

5.4 FURTHER READING   124

6 ROBOT PROGRAMMING   127

6.1 INTRODUCTION   127

6.2 ROBOT PROGRAMMING FUNDAMENTALS    129

6.3 ONLINE AND OFFLINE PROGRAMMING    133

6.3.1 Online programming   134

6.3.2 Offline programming   136

6.4 ABSTRACTION LEVEL   138

6.4.1 Manipulator-level programming    141

6.4.2 Object-level programming   145

6.4.3 Task-level or objective level programming   148

6.5 SIMULATION TOOLS   149

6.5.1 Simulation in robotics   150

6.6 FURTHER READING   153

7 FLEXIBLE AND CONFIGURABLE SYSTEMS   155

7.1 THE CONCEPT OF FLEXIBILITY   156

7.2 ROBOT FLEXIBILITY   159

7.3 RECONFIGURING ROBOT SYSTEMS AND MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS   163

7.3.1 Scalability   164

7.3.2 Convertibility   166

7.3.3 Diagnosability   166

7.3.4 Customisation   167

7.3.5 Modularity   167

7.3.6 Integrability   167

7.3.7 Challenges and trends   167

7.4 LEVEL OF AUTOMATION   169

7.5 FLEXIBILITY AND OPERATING PARAMETERS FOR A ROBOT CELL   170

7.6 FURTHER READING   172

8 INVESTMENT CONSIDERATIONS   173

8.1 EFFECTS OF USING ROBOTS   174

8.1.1 Product   175

8.1.2 Production   175

8.1.3 Quality   176

8.1.4 Employees   176

8.1.5 Sustainability   177

8.1.6 Costs and finance   177

8.1.7 Other considerations   181

8.2 ANALYSING THE INVESTMENT   181

8.3 FURTHER READING   183

9 IMPLEMENTING ROBOT SYSTEMS   185

9.1 PRELIMINARIES IN SETTING UP A ROBOT AUTOMATION PROJECT   186

9.2 INITIAL OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES    189

9.3 IMPLEMENTING ROBOT SYSTEMS   191

9.3.1 Conceptual design and specification   192

9.3.2 Detailed design, configuration, and build   203

9.3.3 Installation and commissioning    204

9.3.4 Operation, maintenance, and reconfigurations   204

9.4 FURTHER READING   205

10 ROBOT AUTOMATION STRATEGY   207

10.1 FURTHER READING   213

11 FUTURE OUTLOOK   215

11.1 TRENDS – IMPLEMENTATION AND USE OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS   216

11.2 ROBOT AUTOMATION IN THE INDUSTRY    219

11.3 CORE CHALLENGES   220

11.3.1 Collaboration   222

11.3.2 Easier to implement and use    222

11.3.3 The lot-size-one challenge    223

11.3.4 Robots and AI   224

11.3.5 Simulation, digital twins, and VR/AR   224

11.4 R&D INITIATIVES   225

11.5 FURTHER READING   226