Purpose Installing a tight tolerant stepped shaft is not a trivial task for an industrial robot. If all peg-hole constraints are complete, the cascaded peg-in-hole task can be simplified into several independent stages and accomplished one by one. However, if some of the constraints are incomplete, the cross stage interference will bring additional difficulties. This paper aims to discuss the cascaded

Purpose The implied assembly constraints of a computer-aided design (CAD) model (e.g. hierarchical constraints, geometric constraints and topological constraints) represent an important basis for product assembly sequence intelligent planning. Assembly prior knowledge contains factual assembly knowledge and experience assembly knowledge, which are important factors for assembly sequence intelligent

Purpose The authors consider the problem of optimizing temporary fastener patterns in aircraft assembly. Minimizing the number of fasteners while maintaining final product quality is one of the key enablers for intensifying production in the aerospace industry. The purpose of this study is to formulate the fastener pattern optimization problem and compare different solving approaches on both test benchmarks

Purpose In robot programming by demonstration (PbD) of small parts assembly tasks, the accuracy of parts poses estimated by vision-based techniques in demonstration stage is far from enough to ensure a successful execution. This paper aims to develop an inference method to improve the accuracy of poses and assembly relations between parts by integrating visual observation with computer-aided design

Purpose From the past few decades, parallel grippers are used successfully in the automation industries for performing various pick and place jobs due to their simple design, reliable nature and its economic feasibility. So, the purpose of this paperis to design a suitable gripper with appropriate design parameters for better performance in the robotic production systems. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose Varied shapes and sizes of different products with irregular rough surface and fragile properties give a challenge to traditional contact gripping. Single Bernoulli grippers are not suited to handle fragile objects as the impact of center negative pressure force could result in large deformation and stress which damage the materials, and they are also have some limitations for gripping objects

Purpose This paper aims on the trajectory tracking of the developed six wheel-legged robot with heavy load conditions under uncertain physical interaction. The accuracy of trajectory tracking and stable operation with heavy load are the main challenges of parallel mechanism for wheel-legged robots, especially in complex road conditions. To guarantee the tracking performance in an uncertain environment

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate dimensional accuracy (Δd), surface roughness (Ra) and micro hardness (HV) of partial dentures (PD) prepared with synergic combination of fused deposition modelling (FDM) assisted chemical vapour smoothing (CVS) patterns and conventional dental casting (DC) from multi-factor optimization view point. Design/methodology/approach The master pattern for

Purpose This paper proposes a novel method of fault detection, which is based on H_/H∞ Runge–Kutta observer and an adaptive threshold for a class of closed-loop non-linear systems. The purpose of this paper is to improve the rapidity and accuracy of fault detection. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors design the H_/H∞ Runge–Kutta fault detection observer, which is used as a residual generator

Purpose This paper aims to improve the anti-interference ability of the airborne radar stabilization platform, especially the ability to suppress continuous disturbance under complex air conditions to ensure the clarity and stability of airborne radar imaging. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a new active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) strategy based on the cascade extended state

Purpose The product family assembly line (PFAL) is a mixed model-assembly line, which is widely used in mass customization and intelligent manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to study the problem of PFAL, a flexible (evolution) planning method to respond to product evolution for PFAL, to focus on product data analysis and evolution planning method. Design/methodology/approach The evolution

Purpose Human assembly process recognition in human–robot collaboration (HRC) has been studied recently. However, most research works do not cover high-precision and long-timespan sub-assembly recognition. Hence this paper aims to deal with this problem. Design/methodology/approach To deal with the above-mentioned problem, the authors propose a 3D long-term recurrent convolutional networks (LRCN) by

Purpose This study aims to present a new haptic-enabled virtual assembly system for the automatic generation and objective assessment of assembly plans. The system is intended to be used as an assembly planning tool along the product development process. Design/methodology/approach The generation of product assembly plans is based on the analysis of the assembly movements and operations performed by

Purpose This paper aims to propose fuzzy-regression-particle swarm optimization (PSO) based hybrid optimization approach for getting maximum weld quality in terms of weld strength and bead depth of penetration. Design/methodology/approach The prediction of welding quality to achieve best of it is not possible by any single optimization technique. Therefore, fuzzy technique has been applied to predict

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the adaptability of the tracked robot in complex working environment. It proposes an angle-changeable tracked robot with human–robot interaction in unstructured environment. The study aims to present the mechanical structure and human–robot interaction control system of the tracked robot and analyze the static stability of the robot working in three terrains

Purpose Bolted joints are the most common type of mechanical connections, and improving the anti-loosening performance of bolts for the reliable performance of mechanical and building structures is highly significant. Design/methodology/approach Because of the lack of sufficient theoretical basis for the evaluation and design of anti-loosening bolts, a quantitative evaluation model exhibiting the following

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discriminate fake interference caused by polygonal approximation so as to achieve accurate assembly sequence planning and assembly simulation. Design/methodology/approach An approximation zone model is proposed to formulate polygonal approximation. Fake interference is discriminated from hard interference by evaluating if polygonal models intersect within corresponding

Purpose This paper aims to solve the problem of free-form tubes’ machining errors which are caused by their complex geometries and material properties. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors propose a multi-view vision-based method for measuring free-form tubes. The authors apply photogrammetry theory to construct the initial model and then optimize the model using an energy function

Purpose Parallel two-sided assembly lines are usually designed to produce large-sized products such as trucks and buses. In parallel two-sided assembly lines, both left and right sides of the line are used for manufacturing one or more products on two or more assembly lines located parallel to each other. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new mathematical model for the parallel two-sided assembly

Purpose This paper aims to develop a theoretical method to analyze the rotation accuracy of rotating machinery with multi-support structures. The method effectively considers the geometric errors and assembly deformation of parts. Design/methodology/approach A method composed of matrix and FEA methods is proposed to do the analysis. The deviation propagation analysis results and external loads are

Purpose This paper aims to present an image-based visual servoing algorithm for a multiple pin-in-hole assembly. This paper also aims to avoid the matching and tracking of image features and the remaining robust against image defects. Design/methodology/approach The authors derive a novel model in the set space and design three image errors to control the 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) of a single-lug

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that computer vision can play within new industrial paradigms such as Industry 4.0 and in particular to support production line improvements to achieve flexible manufacturing. As Industry 4.0 requires “big data”, it is accepted that computer vision could be one of the tools for its capture and efficient analysis. RGB-D data gathered from real-time

Purpose This study aims to present an optical alignment and compensation control of die bonder for chips containing through-silicon vias and develop three-dimensional integrated circuit stacked packaging for compact size and multifunction. Design/methodology/approach The machine vision, optical alignment method and sub-pixel technology in dynamic imaging condition are used. Through a comparison of

Purpose In this paper, a novel and unified method for geometry configuration simulation of flexible cable under certain boundary conditions is presented. This methodology can be used to realize cable assembly verification in any computer-aided design/manufacturing system. The modeling method, solution algorithm, geometry configuration simulation and experimental results are presented to prove the feasibility

Purpose This paper aims to provide a precision assembly method to improve the aircraft engine quality of initial unbalance with the purpose of founding the process for mass eccentricity propagation and demonstration of assembly process. The proposed method can be used for assembly guidance, tolerance allocation and so on, especially for the assembly with a large number of rotors and the assembly requirements