SCHOOL OF MECHATRONIC ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA PERLIS

ROBOT WORK CELL

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INTRODUCTION – MOTOMAN WORK CELL

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INTRODUCTION – FANUC WORK CELL

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INTRODUCTION – FANUC WORK CELL

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A ROBOT WORK CELL
• A Robot and its associated equipment form a basic
robot work cell (or Work Station).
• Some times human workers can also be included in
the work cell to perform tasks that are not easily
automated.
• These tasks may consists of inspection operation or
operations that require judgment or a sense of touch
that robot do not process.

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A ROBOT WORK CELL
• Two aspects arise in the robot applications in
industrial production line:
i. One related to the design of robot work cell which may
consists of more than one robot and more than one
machine.
ii. The other is related to control system that will
coordinate the activities among various components of
work cell

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A ROBOT WORK CELL

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LAYOUTS OF ROBOT WORK CELL

I Robot-centered work cell

II In-line robot work cell

III Mobile robot work cell

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1. ROBOT-CENTERED WORK CELL
• Here robot is located approximately at the center of
the cell and the equipment are arranged within the
reach of robot
• The robot services the equipment in a particular
sequences of its operation

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1. ROBOT-CENTERED WORK CELL (Cont..)

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1. ROBOT-CENTERED WORK CELL (Cont..)

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1. ROBOT-CENTERED WORK CELL (Cont..)
• The service operations are loading and unloading
the equipments with the partially finished products.
• Some time robot should wait(or idling) till the
processing by a machine is completed (eg: CNC
machining)
• Parts are to be supplied to robot to perform a pick
and place
• (loading/unloading) or a processing operation.
Conveyors, part feeders, delivery chutes and pallets
are the means of accomplishing the supply of parts
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1. ROBOT-CENTERED WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Discrete part productions such as die-casting,
machining plastic moulding and other similar
production operations can be accomplished by this
work cell.

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL
• Robot is located along a moving conveyor and to
perform tasks on the product that is coming on the
conveyor.
• Many in-line robot work cell involve more than one
robot.

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• One common example is: Car Body assembly.
• Robots are positioned along the assembly line to
spot-weld the car body frames and panels.

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)

Continuous
Transfer
Non-
Intermittent
synchronous
Transfer
transfer
Three
categories
of transfer
system

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Synchronous or Intermittent Transfer System:
• Moves the parts with a start and stop motion from one
work station along this line to another work station.
• Here all parts are moved simultaneously and then
registered at the next respective locations, and the
robots are stationary along the line of transfer (conveyor)
• Advantage: A part is registered and kept stationary so
that robot finishes the process during the robot work
cycle.

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Continuous Transfer System:
• Here the parts are moved continuously along the line at
constant speed.
• This means that the position and sometimes orientation
of the part is continuously changing. Though this
improves productivity, the problem is for the robot to
have sufficient time for working on the part.
• This problem is solved by the robot with:
• Moving base line tracking
• Stationary base line tracking

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Moving based line tracking
• Moving the base of the robot along the conveyor to some
calculated distance.
• Requires a cart (wheels) on which the robot is to mounted.
• Creates extra DOF for the robot.
• Due to this solution, sufficient time is available for a robot to do a
job on the part coming along the production line.
• The problem of possible collision between neighbouring robots is
to be taken care.
• If the robots are placed at sufficient distances for collision free
operation, additional floor space is required; the time of
production is also increased due to the parts are to travel
additional distances.
• Sensor based artificial intelligence(AI) control can avoid robot
collisions as a robot knows where exactly the other robot is
extending its arm 20
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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Stationary based line
tracking system
• Robot is located in a
stationary position and
creates a tracking
window.
• When the part enters the
tracking window, the
robot starts its work on
the part
• Must complete its work
before the part leaves the
window.
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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• The tracking window is the intersection of work volume
of robot with the production line.
• Sensing the presence of part within the tracking window
is required.
• Robot starts its functioning as the part enters the
tracking window.

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Problems of stationary based line tracking system:
• Robot has to continuously manipulate its joints so that it does the
required job on the part without interruptions as the part is moving
on the conveyor.
• Real time controlling of robot has to be very effective
• The velocity of parts coming along the line.
• Velocity has to be known and fixed.
• Variations in velocity will deter effective robot cell performance

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2. INLINE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Non-synchronous Transfer System:
• Also known as “power and free system”
• Each part moves independently along a conveyor in a
stop-and go fashion.
• Each part is placed on a cart that moves along the
conveyor, at the work station, the cart is brought away
from the conveyor nearer to the robot so that robot takes
its time for performing a task on the work part.
• Complex and is to be provided with sensors to decide
where exactly the cart is.
• Some time the conveyor may be stopped so that the
duration of robot’s task on the part is substantially long.
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3. MOBILE ROBOT WORK CELL
• Robot is capable of moving to the various equipment within
the cell.
• A mobile base in needed.
• This could be accomplished by having rails either on the
floor or overhead so that the robot can reach the equipment
easily.

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3. MOBILE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)

(Floor Mounted)

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3. MOBILE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)
• Overhead system is
expensive but reduces
floor space.
• Another very effective but
complex design is to have
more than one robot
operating in a network of
rail system overhead.
• This can effectively
reduce the machine
interference and robot idle
time.
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3. MOBILE ROBOT WORK CELL (Cont..)

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Example:
A robot centered work cell has one robot servicing three
machines. The cycle times of machines are given in
Table.
1. Develop a Robot-Machine process Chart
2. Prepare the process chart at least 3 cycles.
3. Determine machine interference.
4. Determine the robot idle time.

M Load Run
1 20 20
2 10 20
3 5 20

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Solution:

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Robot cycle time: 40s
Machine idle time: 25s
Robot idle time: 5s

1 CYCLE

Idling time in % for robot

= (5/40)*100
Idling time in % for
machine = (25/40)*100

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Exercise I

Note:
Returning time is included
in loading/unloading time

(1) Name the above layout.

(2) Compute the process time for one completed cycle if given:
i. Machine 1 and Machine 2 are identical and works independently.
ii. The loading time to machine 1 and machine 2 is 10 s and 30 s
respectively
iii. The unloading time of Machine 1 and Machine 2 is 30 s and 20 s
respectively
iv. The processing time of Machine 1 and Machine 2 is 20 s
(3) Estimate the machine interference
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 M1 M2 Time Robot M1 M2
Loading 10 30 5
Load 1 Load 1
Unloading 30 20 10
Run 20 20 15
20 Run
Robot Cycle Time 90 25
Load 2 Load 2
Machine Idling Time 50 30
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Idle
Machine Interference 56% 40
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Note: 50 One
Run
Machine inteference is equal to all machine idling 55 Completed
Unload 1 Unload 1
time over robot cycle time, (50/90)%=56% 60 Cycle
65 (90 s)
Idle
70
75
80
Unload 2 Idle Unload 2
85
90
95
Load 1 Load 1 Idle
100
105
110
Run
115
Load 2 Load 2
120
125
Idle
130
135
140 Run
145
Unload 1 Unload 1
150
155
Idle
160
165
170
Unload 2 Idle Unload 2
175
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Notes:
• Each type of robot cell layout has different approaches on
performing it tasks.
• Even the same layout can perform different types of work
depending on the requirement.
• In actual applications, we must consider all working time, in
e.g. including the robot’s returning time to the input buffer.

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