Assembly on moving production line based on sensor fusion

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an intelligent robot assembly system for the moving production line. Moving production lines are widely used in many manufacturing factories, including automotive and general industries. Industrial robots are hardly used to perform any tasks on the moving production lines. One of the main reasons is that it is difficult for conventional industrial robots to adjust to any sort of change. Therefore, more intelligent industrial robotic systems have to be developed to adopt the random motion of the moving production lines. This paper presents an intelligent robotics system that performs an assembly process while the object is moving, using synergic combination of visual servoing and force control technology.

Design/methodology/approach

The developed intelligent robotic system includes some rules to ensure the success of the assembly processes. Also visual servoing and force control are used to deal with the random motion of the moving objects. Since the objects on the moving production lines are moving with random speed, visual servoing is adopted to tracking the motion of the moving object. Force control is also integrated to control the motion of the robot and keep the robotic system compliant with the moving objects to avoid the damage of the whole system.

Findings

The developed intelligent robotic technology has been successfully implemented. The wheel loading process is used as example.

Research limitations/implications

Since the developed technology is based on the low‐level motion control, safety has to be considered. Currently, it is done by motion supervision.

Practical implications

The developed technology can be used to perform assemblies in the moving production lines. Since the developed platform is based on the synergic combination of visual servoing and force control technology, it can be used in other areas, such as seam tracking and seat loading, etc.

Originality/value

This paper provides a practical solution of performing assemblies on the moving production lines, which is not available on the current industrial robot market.

Citation

Chen, H., Zhang, G., Eakins, W. and Fuhlbrigge, T. (2009), "Assembly on moving production line based on sensor fusion", Assembly Automation, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 257-262. https://doi.org/10.1108/01445150910972930