Abstract

In this article, an analytical method is introduced to evaluate the flow time of an assembly process with collaborative robots. In such a process, an operator and a collaborative robot can independently carry out preparation tasks first, then they work jointly to finish the assembly operations. To study the productivity performance of such systems, a stochastic process model is developed, where the joint work is modeled as an assembly merge process, and the task times of all operation steps are described by phase-type distributions. Closed-form solutions of system performance, such as flow time expectation and variability, as well as service rate, are derived analytically. The system properties of monotonicity, work allocation, and bottleneck identification are investigated. In addition, a case study is introduced to evaluate the performance of a front panel assembly process in automotive manufacturing.

摘要

在本文中，介绍了一种分析方法来评估协作机器人装配过程的流动时间。在这样的过程中，操作员和协作机器人可以先独立完成准备任务，然后共同完成装配作业。为了研究此类系统的生产力性能，开发了一个随机过程模型，其中联合工作被建模为装配合并过程，并且所有操作步骤的任务时间由阶段类型分布描述。系统性能的封闭形式解决方案，例如流动时间预期和可变性，以及服务率，都是通过分析得出的。研究了系统的单调性、工作分配和瓶颈识别特性。此外，