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1 – 10 of over 1000Chuanping Zhang, Fei Yu, Honggang Duan and Yuan Chen
The purpose of this paper is to design a glass handling robot and conduct a finite element analysis and structural optimization to solve the automation handling problem of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design a glass handling robot and conduct a finite element analysis and structural optimization to solve the automation handling problem of large-scale glass production line and aiming at the phenomenon that the vibration of robot manipulator may result in breakage of glass products, especially the fragile chemical or medical glassware. Making modal analysis for the robot is to determine its natural frequencies and vibration modes and lay a foundation for the transient analysis to study the vibration shock response of the robot during its start-up and emergency stop operation.
Design/methodology/approach
First, a 3D model of the robot is established according to the requirements of the production field and a finite element model is built on the basis of the 3D model. Then the modal and transient analyses of the robot are carried out according to the fact that the maximum vibration impact of the robot usually appears at the start and emergency stop.
Findings
The structure of the robot is improved according to the results of finite element analysis. The dynamic analysis results show that the improved robot’s ability to resist deformation under the impact of vibration shock is enhanced, and the robot can operate smoothly and meet the requirements of design in industrial environments.
Originality/value
The research results avoided the damage caused by the vibration and improved the service life of the robot, providing a foundation for the structural design and mass production of the glass handling robot.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel device to handle a robot manipulator which can grip large‐size panels. This concept arises from questioning why the glazing task…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel device to handle a robot manipulator which can grip large‐size panels. This concept arises from questioning why the glazing task is always performed manually and it is assumed that if the panel is handled by worker's bare hands, the material is lifted by a robot system and can be assembled to a frame easily and intuitively.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes the intuitive manipulator device (IMD) which can be attached on the panel directly and connected to it with the coordinate of robot end‐effector based on a virtual coordinate of IMD. The virtual coordinate is defined by the detection of the location of the IMD from the robot end‐effector using IR sensor scanning and origin point estimation method. In this study, the robot manipulator system is operated by a combination of the commands of two IMDs to perform the panel assembly test and its aspect of input commands is compared with the previous force‐control based human‐robot cooperative systems.
Findings
The proposed system shows the better performance while reducing the frequent force reflection of robot system against an environment and simplifies the instant input source for robot control system. Those are caused by the intuitiveness of visual servoing performed by operators and the minimization of a force control strategy by utilizing the operator's own sensitivity. The proposed system shows the possibility of efficiency improvement and simple mechatronic system to realize the automation of panel assembly task.
Originality/value
The proposed device alternates the expensive 6‐axis F/T sensor system to handle the robot manipulator by using the two 3‐axis load cell and those force/torque combinations. Also, the developed device is portable and can attach on the material anywhere. That is why this system could cover various sizes of materials. This system minimizes the computational load to control the robot system and improves the efficiency of an assembly task based on the human‐robot cooperation strategy.
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Houxiang Zhang, Jianwei Zhang, Wei Wang, Rong Liu and Guanghua Zong
This paper presents the design of climbing robots for glass‐wall cleaning.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents the design of climbing robots for glass‐wall cleaning.
Design/methodology/approach
A systemic analysis of the basic functions of a glass‐wall cleaning system is given based on the research of working targets. Then the constraints for designing a glass‐wall cleaning robot are discussed. The driving method, the attachment principle, mechanical structure and unique aspects of three pneumatic robots named Sky Cleaners follow. In the end a summary of the main special features is given. All three climbing robots are tested on site.
Findings
Our groups spent several years in designing and developing a series of robots named Sky Cleaners which are totally actuated by pneumatic cylinders and sucked to the glass walls with vacuum grippers in mid‐air. It was found that they can meet the requirements of glass‐wall cleaning.
Research limitation/implications
The air source, cleaning liquid and control signals should be provided by the supporting vehicle stationed on the ground. Even if the robots are intelligent, the suitable working height is below 50 m because the weight of the hoses has to be taken into account when the robots work in mid‐air.
Practical implications
The cleaning robotic systems can avoid workers presence in a hazardous environment and realize an automatic cleaning, furthermore reduce operation costs and improve the technological level and productivity of the service industry in the building maintenance.
Originality/value
Sky Cleaner robots can move and do cleaning on the plane glass wall or the special curve wall with a small angle between the glasses. The first two prototypes are mainly used for research and the last one is a real product designing for cleaning the glass surface of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum.
Aims to describe the application of robotics to the cleaning of the glass roof of the 21 m high pyramid that stands in front of the Louvre in Paris.
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to describe the application of robotics to the cleaning of the glass roof of the 21 m high pyramid that stands in front of the Louvre in Paris.
Design/methodology/approach
Presents the design of the robot, its traction mechanism, cleaning system and operating mode.
Findings
Finds that a robot is capable of cleaning a glass roof at a great height and on a steep slope using only suction to adhere to the surface.
Originality/value
Introduces the concept of a robot in commercial use that cleans a steeply sloping glass roof.
Wei Wang, Boyan Tang, Houxiang Zhang and Guanghua Zong
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a robotic cleaning system for applying on the glass facade of the control tower at the Guangzhou Airport, in Guangzhou…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a robotic cleaning system for applying on the glass facade of the control tower at the Guangzhou Airport, in Guangzhou, China.
Design/methodology/approach
Four similar robotic cleaning systems are designed for a reversed cone‐shape glass facade at the top of the control tower. One system is composed of a robot moving along and cleaning the facade, and an automatic conveyer positioning, securing, supplying energy and water to, and recycling the dirty water from the robot. An on‐board controller enables the system to work in a remote control mode or a fully automated mode under the supervision of an operator.
Findings
This paper presents how to integrate the attaching, moving, cleaning and securing functions into one robotic system for the high rise glass facade, and focuses on the kinematics, the control and sensor system and the cleaning navigation. In particular, the real time control method of the vacuum in the cup is discussed to ensure high cleaning quality and security.
Research limitations/implications
Since the cleaning system proposed in this paper is a custom‐built one, the generalization of its design idea should be tested in other applications.
Practical implications
The paper includes the implications for the development of automatic cleaning system for the high‐rise buildings with reversed inclining glass façade.
Originality/value
The robotic cleaning system described in this paper is the first fully automated cleaning machine for the reversed inclining glass facade in China. It works effectively and reliably on the control tower of the Guangzhou airport.
A. Miller, P. Allen, V. Santos and F. Valero‐Cuevas
Robotic hands are still a long way from matching the grasping and manipulation capability of their human counterparts, but computer simulation may help us understand this…
Abstract
Purpose
Robotic hands are still a long way from matching the grasping and manipulation capability of their human counterparts, but computer simulation may help us understand this disparity. We present our publicly available simulator, and describe our research projects involving the system including the development of a human hand model derived from experimental measurements.
Design/methodology/approach
Unlike other simulation systems, our system was built specifically to analyze grasps. It can import a wide variety of robot designs by using standard descriptions of the kinematics and link geometries. Various components support the analysis of grasps, visualization of results, dynamic simulation of grasping tasks, and grasp planning.
Findings
The simulator has been used in several grasping research problems and can be used to plan grasps for an actual robot. With the aid of a vision system, we have shown that these grasps can be executed by a robot.
Research limitations/implications
We are currently developing methods to handle deformable surfaces, tendon driven models, and non‐ideal joints in order to better model human grasping.
Practical implications
This work is part of our current project to create a biomechanically realistic human hand model to better understand what features are most important to mimic in the designs of robotic hands. Such a model will also help clinicians better plan reconstructive hand surgeries.
Originality/value
We describe our publicly available grasping simulator and review experiments performed with it. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of this system as a tool for grasping research.
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The automotive industry has been the principal driver in the development of robotics; however, as car design becomes more sophisticated, demands on robot makers will continue…
Abstract
The automotive industry has been the principal driver in the development of robotics; however, as car design becomes more sophisticated, demands on robot makers will continue undiminished.
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Aims to describe the new tendency of Japanese robotic industry observed at the International Robot Exhibition 2005 in Tokyo.
Abstract
Purpose
Aims to describe the new tendency of Japanese robotic industry observed at the International Robot Exhibition 2005 in Tokyo.
Design/methodology/approach
Reports new robots, robotic systems and research.
Findings
Finds that Japanese robotics is trying to support the future direction of the nation.
Originality/value
Introduces an approach to study what is going on in the Japanese robotic community based on the social needs of the country.
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The ‘cut‐spray’ stage in glass‐reinforced plastic processing has been automated by using the robot as a peripheral of a PLC.
Wenbin Xu, Xudong Li, Liang Gong, Yixiang Huang, Zeyuan Zheng, Zelin Zhao, Lujie Zhao, Binhao Chen, Haozhe Yang, Li Cao and Chengliang Liu
This paper aims to present a human-in-the-loop natural teaching paradigm based on scene-motion cross-modal perception, which facilitates the manipulation intelligence and robot…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a human-in-the-loop natural teaching paradigm based on scene-motion cross-modal perception, which facilitates the manipulation intelligence and robot teleoperation.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed natural teaching paradigm is used to telemanipulate a life-size humanoid robot in response to a complicated working scenario. First, a vision sensor is used to project mission scenes onto virtual reality glasses for human-in-the-loop reactions. Second, motion capture system is established to retarget eye-body synergic movements to a skeletal model. Third, real-time data transfer is realized through publish-subscribe messaging mechanism in robot operating system. Next, joint angles are computed through a fast mapping algorithm and sent to a slave controller through a serial port. Finally, visualization terminals render it convenient to make comparisons between two motion systems.
Findings
Experimentation in various industrial mission scenes, such as approaching flanges, shows the numerous advantages brought by natural teaching, including being real-time, high accuracy, repeatability and dexterity.
Originality/value
The proposed paradigm realizes the natural cross-modal combination of perception information and enhances the working capacity and flexibility of industrial robots, paving a new way for effective robot teaching and autonomous learning.
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