Manufacturing and Industrial Robotics have reached a point where to be more useful to small and medium sized manufacturers, the systems must become more agile and must be able to adapt to changes in the environment. This paper describes the process for creating and the lessons learned over multiple years of the Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition (ARIAC) being run by the National Institute

Human–Robot Collaboration (HRC) is a term used to describe tasks in which robots and humans work together to achieve a goal. Unlike traditional industrial robots, collaborative robots need to be adaptive; able to alter their approach to better suit the situation and the needs of the human partner. As traditional programming techniques can struggle with the complexity required, an emerging approach

Cycle time for an assembly line in the automotive industry is a crucial requirement for the overall production rate and business achievements. In a multi-robot station, besides workload distribution, operations sequencing, and robot motions, an important issue is robot coordination. A key aspect, so far neglected, is the robot motion delay due to the implementation of robot coordination scheduling:

Modern aircraft assembly demands assembly cells or machines with higher machining efficiency and accuracy. Thus, a dual-machine drilling and riveting cell is developed in this paper. We firstly discuss its physical design, as well as the automatic drilling and riveting process. With the automatic drilling and riveting cell, drilling and riveting production line of aircraft panels can be expected. The

This paper describes a novel method for robotic gear chamfering called dual-edge chamfering which can facilitate simultaneous chamfering of the two edges of adjacent gear teeth and overcome typical registration errors arising due to the placement of the workpiece in the robot workspace. Deviations of the robot end-effector trajectory when compared to the nominal trajectory due to registration errors

Many small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) have already implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) and manufacturing execution system (MES) and began to start the journey of cloud manufacturing; however, the high cost of hardware and software investment, implementation, and maintenance usually hinder SMEs from adopting an advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system. This paper

An approach of Task-Parameterised Learning from Demonstration (TP-LfD) aims at automatically adapting the movements of collaborative robots (cobots) to new settings using knowledge learnt from demonstrated paths. The approach is suitable for encoding complex relations between a cobot and its surrounding, i.e., task-relevant objects. However, further efforts are still required to enhance the intelligence

This paper presents an approach for the trajectory planning of a hybrid machine tool based on vibration error, which aims at determining the optimal location and machining time of a given machining path. Firstly, an elastodynamic model of the hybrid robot is proposed by taking compliance of joints and limbs into account. Then, in order to evaluate vibration error in a typical machining path, two indices

In this article, an optimization method is proposed for the dimensional synthesis of robotic manipulators with limited mobility, i.e. with less than 6 degrees-of-freedom (“DoF”), with a prescribed set of tasks in a constrained environment. Since these manipulators cannot achieve full 6-DoF mobility, they are able to follow only certain paths with prescribed position and orientation in space. While

Trochoidal milling is a popular machining method for slotting operation, as it avoids a full tool-workpiece engagement and hence helps, often significantly, slow down the tool wear, which is particularly a concern in the machining of hard-to-cut materials like titanium alloy. However, as the traditional trochoidal milling method assumes a fixed tool orientation, it can only apply to 2D shaped slots

Efficient service scheduling is an important technique to support collaborative manufacturing platforms such as IoT-enable manufacturing systems and cloud manufacturing. In the past few years, optimization problems for processing services have attracted the most attention of researchers and practitioners in terms of task matching, service selection, and scheduling. Logistics services, as another important

Due to their compliant structure, industrial robots without precision-enhancing measures are only to a limited extent suitable for machining applications. Apart from structural, thermal and bearing deformations, the main cause for compliant structure is backlash of transmission drives. This paper proposes a method to improve trajectory tracking accuracy by using secondary encoders and applying a feedback

Human-robot collaboration (HRC) can expand the level of automation in areas that have conventionally been difficult to automate such as assembly. However, the need of adaptability and the dynamics of human presence are keeping the full potential of human-robot collaborative systems difficult to achieve. This paper explores the opportunities of using a digital twin to address the complexity of collaborative

Planning collision-free and smooth joint motion is crucial in robotic applications, such as welding, milling, and laser cutting. Kinematic redundancy exists when a six-axis industrial robot performs five-dimensional tasks, and there are infinite joint configurations for a six-axis industrial robot to realize a cutter location data of the tool path. The robot joint motion can be optimized by taking

Computer vision applications in the industry have been a constant field of research in academia. Industrial daily challenges such as quality inspection, object detection, and measurement are examples of situations where some automation could be done by using computer vision techniques. In this paper, a cloud-based approach of an automatic system based on stereo vision and image analysis has been developed

Assembly precision analysis is one of the fundamental technologies used for controlling the assembly quality of products. Existing assembly precision analysis methods focus on identifying the assembly deviation caused by manufacturing errors of parts. They place less emphasis on the influencing factors in the assembly process, which significantly affect the reliability of the analytical results. Additionally

In this work, we present a novel control approach to human-robot collaboration that takes into account ergonomic aspects of the human co-worker during power tool operations. The method is primarily based on estimating and reducing the overloading torques in the human joints that are induced by the manipulated external load. The human overloading joint torques are estimated and monitored using a whole-body

3D object pose estimation for grasping and manipulation is a crucial task in robotic and industrial applications. Robustness and efficiency for robotic manipulation are desirable properties that are still very challenging in complex and cluttered scenes, because 3D objects have different appearances, illumination and occlusion when seen from different viewpoints. This article proposes a Semantic Point

This paper presents the Meta-Collaborative Workstation concept and a gesture-based robot program builder software named MEGURU. The software is ROS-based, and it is publicly available on GitHub. A hand-gestures language has been developed to create a fast and easy to use communication method, where single-hand gestures are combined to create composed Commands, allowing the user to create a customized

Structural parts are generallyused to compose the main load-bearing components in various mechanical products, and are usuallyproduced by NC machining where the machining parameters heavily determine the final production quality, efficiency and cost. Due to the complex structures and high precision requirements, a large amount of human interactions are usually required to modify the machining parameters

Digital twin (DT) technology provides a novel, feasible, and clear implementation path for the realization of smart manufacturing and cyber-physical systems (CPS). Currently, DT is applied to all stages of the product lifecycle, including design, production, and service, although its application in the production stage is not yet extensive. Shop-floor digital twin (SDT) is a digital mapping model of

Vision-based defect classification is an important technology to control the quality of product in manufacturing system. As it is very hard to obtain enough labeled samples for model training in the real-world production, the semi-supervised learning which learns from both labeled and unlabeled samples is more suitable for this task. However, the intra-class variations and the inter-class similarities

The booming e-commerce and intense regional competition are pushing the transformation of Hong Kong's warehousing industry towards more automated and efficient. However, this falls into a dilemma when stakeholders do not have enough technical and operational capability (to use advanced facility and systems) or strong motivation (due to high investment and risk). To resolve this, we first propose a

The mobile manipulators (MMs) have been increasingly adopted for machining large and complex components. In order to ensure the machining efficiency and quality, the MMs usually need to cooperate with each other. However, due to the low motion accuracy of the mobile platform, the relative pose accuracy between the coordinated MMs are difficult to guarantee, so an effective calibration method is needed

This paper studies a hybrid flow-shop scheduling problem with limited buffers and two process routes that comes from an engine hot-test production line in a diesel engine assembly plant. It extends the classical hybrid flow-shop scheduling problem by considering practical constraints on buffer area resources and alternative process routes. Because of its NP-hardness and large scale, traditional optimization

For 5-axis ball-end machining, it is desired to maintain the expected cutting performance of tool orientation when adjusting tool orientation for improving the motions of rotary axes of 5-axis machine. For this purpose, a cutting performance maintained (CPM) method is proposed to adjust the tool orientations, the objective of which is to minimize the sum of the absolute deviations between the initial

Accurate, rapid and automated tool wear inspection is critical to manufacturing quality, cost and efficiency in smart manufacturing systems. However, manual inspection of tool wear is still a common industrial practice which is inefficient, prone to human errors and not suitable for digitized manufacturing. Previously reported automatic tool wear inspection methods were inaccurate because they only

In recent years Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) has become a strategic research field, considering the emergent need for common collaborative execution of manufacturing tasks, shared between humans and robots within the modern factories. However, the majority of the research focuses on the technological aspects and enabling technologies, mainly directing to the robotic side, and usually neglecting

In wide-area and multi-sites manufacturing scenarios, the mobile manipulator suffers from inadequate autonomous parking performance due to the harsh industrial environment. Instead of struggling to model various errors or calibrate multiple sensors, this paper resolves the above challenge by proposing an iterative-learning error compensation scheme that consists of offline pre-regulation and online

While Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) improves the ambiguity problem of the conventional document-based way, it brings management complexity. Faced with the complexity, one of the core issues that companies care about is how to effectively evaluate, predict, and manage it in the early system design stage. The inaccuracy of contemporary complexity measurement approaches still exits due to the

Industrial robots are currently used in light milling operations for their low cost and large workspace compared with CNC machine tools. However, milling robots are prone to vibration instabilities (chatter) and process deviations since they are significantly less stiff than machine tools. As a result, robot dynamic response depends on its posture which represents a major challenge. This paper presents

In this paper, the modeling of the stiffness of a 6-DOF industrial robot is introduced, and two different stiffness-oriented performance indices are compared to improve the two-dimensional manifold. In previous study, the two-dimensional manifold is applied to simplify the workspace for error compensation to avoid the curse of dimensionality. Stiffness is one of the most concerned factors in robotic

The linear motion command (G01) is a widely used command format in CNC machining. However, the tangential direction discontinuity at the corner junction will cause velocity fluctuations and excite the structural vibration of machine tools. Corner smoothing methods with controlled tolerance are used to obtain continuous smooth motion. Typically, most methods generate a symmetrical cornering trajectory

This research proposes a novel framework to control the stencil cleaning profile selection in the stencil printing process (SPP). The SPP is a major contributor to yield loss in surface mount technology (SMT). Enhancement in SPP performance is critical to improving the printed circuit board (PCB) assembly line. The selection of a solvent-based or a dry-based cleaning profile is challenging, but the

In this paper an overview of recent augmented reality (AR) solutions for manufacturing execution systems (MES) is presented. The first part of the paper describes the challenges of integrating AR into MES, while the second part focuses on custom AR solutions. The last part of the paper highlights the advantages of the proposed approaches, as well as real life experimental results. Experiments are described

Product variation and the unavailability of end-of-life product and condition information makes automation of disassembly a significant challenge. Several research attempts have been made employing different techniques to approach uncertainties in the disassembly process automatically, but it has made little influence on industrial applications. This research presents a robotic disassembly system aimed

In recent years carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) have gained enormous popularity in aircraft applications. Since the material is very expensive, costs have to be saved through an automated production. For the manufacturing of large structures it is often advisable to use cooperating robots. However, a major problem for the economic use of complex components is the programming of the robot paths

The optimization of the energy consumption of Industrial Robots (IRs) has been widely investigated. Unfortunately, on the field, the prediction and optimization strategies of IRs energy consumption still lack robustness and accuracy, due to the elevated number of parameters involved and their sensitivity to environmental working conditions. The purpose of this paper is to present, and share with the

Problems with robot dress packs are a major reason for on-line adjustments of robot programs and down-time in robot stations. It is therefore of high value if the physical behaviour of the dress packs can be considered with simulation methods already during the off-line programming process for a robot station. This paper presents a method for quasi-static path optimization for an industrial robot with

In-situ aeroengine maintenance works are highly beneficial as it can significantly reduce the current maintenance cycle which is extensive and costly due to the disassembly requirement of engines from aircraft. However, navigating in/out via inspection ports and performing multi-axis movements with end-effectors in constrained environments (e.g. combustion chamber) is fairly challenging. A novel extra-slender

The non-uniform rational B-spine (NURBS) curve interpolation is a key technology of the advanced computer numerical control (CNC) system. NURBS curve interpolation can realize a high-speed and high-precision machining, and it can also avoid some inevitable deficiencies of the linear and circular interpolation functions which are generally used in traditional NC system. Before the interpolation, some

Three-dimensional (3D) printers are widely used in rapid prototyping and mass customization. However, capacity planning for 3D printers is challenging because 3D printers are usually not dedicated, and estimating the demand for their capacity is not easy. To overcome this problem, in this study, a consistent-decomposition (CD) fuzzy-analytic-hierarchy-process (FAHP) approach is proposed. This approach

A key challenge in human-robot shared workspace is defining the decision criterion to select the next task for a fluent, efficient and safe collaboration. While working with robots in an industrial environment, tasks may comply with precedence constraints to be executed. A typical example of precedence constraint in industry occurs at an assembly station when the human cannot perform a task before

Robots are increasingly present in our lives, sharing the workspace and tasks with human co-workers. However, existing interfaces for human-robot interaction / cooperation (HRI/C) have limited levels of intuitiveness to use and safety is a major concern when humans and robots share the same workspace. Many times, this is due to the lack of a reliable estimation of the human pose in space which is the

Robot safety standards defines Collaborative Operation as a state in which purposely designed robots work in direct cooperation with a human within a defined workspace. That is, an operator and an industrial robot complete assembly tasks at the collaborative workspace. A prerequisite to ensuring safety during all phases of operation is an understanding of the nature of hazards pertinent to collaborative

Vibration suppression is a major difficulty in the grinding of low-stiffness large thin-wall shells. The paper proposes that effective workpiece vibration control can be performed by a novel force-controlled end-effector integrated into a robotic grinding workcell. First, a dynamics model is built to capture the characteristics and vibration suppression mechanism of force control-based robotic grinding

A cyber-physical system is one of the integral parts of the development endeavor of the smart manufacturing domain and the Industry 4.0 wave. With the advances in data analytics, smart manufacturing is gradually transforming the global manufacturing landscape. In the Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) domain, the focus has been more on the physical systems, compared to the virtual systems. The cyber-physical

The manufacturing industry is facing the impact of a dynamic market and intensive competition. Many companies are looking for a new approach to improve their business activities in a collaborative business ecosystem with other stakeholders. Cloud computing enables the sharing of manufacturing resources and capabilities between different stakeholders to support business and physical production. The

A control system based on multiple sensors is proposed for the safe collaboration of a robot with a human. New constrained and contactless human-robot coordinated motion tasks are defined to control the robot end-effector so as to maintain a desired relative position to the human head while pointing at it. Simultaneously, the robot avoids any collision with the operator and with nearby static or dynamic

Grinding marks and traces, as well as the over- and under-cutting phenomenon are the severe challenges in robotic abrasive belt grinding of turbine blades and it greatly limits the further application of robotic machining technology in the thin-walled blade fields. In the paper, an active force control method consisting of force/positon and PI/PD controller based on six-dimensional force/torque sensor

In this research, we propose a system architecture of the server-edge dualized closed-loop data analytics system for cyber-physical system (CPS) application. We define six essential components for the data analytics system for CPS application: (1) the cyber model, (2) the data analytics module, (3) the data analysis model execution module, (4) the decision making module, (5) the system control module

Unpredictable and time-variable adhesion force between the rubber unstacking robot and the rubber block is generated, which makes it difficult for the robot to smoothly complete the rubber disassembly task, thereby bringing about new robot control problems. For solving the above problems, a novel method of inner/outer loop impedance control based on natural gradient actor-critic (NAC) reinforcement

Despite the advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, there are many tooling tasks with cognitive aspects that are rather challenging for robots to handle in full autonomy, thus still requiring a certain degree of interaction with a human operator. In this paper, we propose a theoretical framework for both planning and execution of robot-surface contact tasks whereby interaction

In this paper a novel approach for sustainable 3D printing with a Linear Delta Robot equipped with elastic elements is presented and experimentally validated. Energy saving is achieved thanks to the introduction and optimization of linear springs that are mounted on the robot with different configurations: in parallel to the prismatic joints, or directly connecting the end-effector to the fixed frame

Tight position tolerance is required for fastener holes in wing manufacturing. Automated drilling system with high positioning accuracy is the key to achieve the requirement. The paper seeks to determine allowable values of variation sources and guarantee the hole position tolerance. The process of reference hole positioning and the compensation of drilling positions are firstly explored and formalized

Overview of current manufacturing enterprises show that successful global manufacturing enterprise has great collaboration among designer, manufacturer, and customer, which effect on reducing production life cycle and improving customer satisfaction. Recently, several past and ongoing research projects have conducted to enable the collaborative platform to develop effective collaboration with the manufacturing

Optimizing the energy consumption of robot movements becomes one of the increasingly important issues in industry. Minimizing a robot's movement has been identified as one of the strategies to improve energy efficiency in robotic systems. In this paper, a mathematical model of the total energy consumption of cycle pick-and-place tasks is proposed, which considers operating motion and homing motion

Digital twin is a virtual model that represents physical entities in a digital manner. By leveraging means of data to simulate the behavior of physical entities in the real environment, the functions of physical entities can be optimized and expanded, through virtual and real interaction feedback, data fusion, decision making, and optimization. Despite numerous researches on digital twin concept and

This paper reports about the design of a bio-inspired compliant wrist, whose mobility (i.e. ulnar-radial deviation and flexion-extension) has been realized by employing two pairs of contact-aided Cross-Axis Flexural Pivots (CAFPs), actuated via remotely-placed servo-motors and tendon transmissions. The human wrist behaves differently when deflecting in clockwise or anticlockwise direction, both in

In this manuscript we report on a vision-based data-driven methodology for industrial robot health assessment. We provide an experimental evidence of the usefulness of our methodology on a system comprised of a 6-axis industrial robot, two monocular cameras and five binary squared fiducial markers. The fiducial marker system permits to accurately track the deviation of the end-effector along a fixed