Design method of robot kitting sytem for flexible assemble

doi:10.1016/0921-8890(91)90048-P

Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Volume 8, Issue 4, 1991, Pages 255-273

https://doi.org/10.1016/0921-8890(91)90048-P Get rights and content

Abstract

This article describes the design method of robotic kitting systems, as an alternative parts entry process, which contribute to reduction of overall assembly costs. Utilizing robots rather than manual work to perform the parts kitting operation can, in certain cases, improve productivity, flexibility, and part flow control. The specific objectives of this article are to: (1) propose a design method for robotic kitting system, (2) develop design factors and criteria for planning robotic kitting system in accordance with individual steps of the design method, (3) describe the plan for robotic bin-picking workstation involved in a kitting system, and (4) explore robot hardware components (end-effector, manipulator, locomotion and sensors) suitable for automated kitting systems, and (5) analyze the several configurations of robotic kitting systems using simulation tools.

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Cited by (17)

Supervised and unsupervised learning in vision-guided robotic bin picking applications for mixed-model assembly
2021, Procedia CIRP
Mixed-model assembly usually involves numerous component variants that require effective materials supply. Here, picking activities are often performed manually, but the prospect of robotics for bin picking has potential to improve quality while reducing man-hour consumption. Robots can make use of vision systems to learn how to perform their tasks. This paper aims to understand the differences in two learning approaches, supervised learning, and unsupervised learning. An experiment containing engineering preparation time (EPT) and recognition quality (RQ) is performed. The findings show an improved RQ but longer EPT with a supervised compared to an unsupervised approach.
Economic comparison of manual and automation-assisted kitting systems
2018, undefined
Parts kitting is a frequently adopted method to feed parts from a warehouse to an assembly line. While kitting allows minimization of space occupation and Work In Process holding cost at the workstations, also simplifying materials flow and supporting manual assembly, it is penalized by high workforce cost for manual kits preparation. For this reason automated kitting systems have been also proposed although their practical application is somewhat limited owing to the relevant capital investment and scarce performances of robotized kitting systems. Nevertheless, economic models allowing a quantitative comparison of manual and automated kitting systems are not yet available in the literature. In this paper a cost model to compare manual and automated parts retrieval in kitting systems is presented. It can be used as a decision making tool when planning and justifying kitting systems. The model includes capital investment, workforce, space occupation and quality costs. An application example is also included to demonstrate the model capabilities, showing that automation-assisted kitting systems can be competitive in comparison to manual kitting and that break-even conditions can be identified resorting to this model.
Analysis of occupational safety and health of workers by implementing ergonomic based kitting assembly system
2014, Procedia Engineering
Success of any industry depends on its quality, quantity of production and delivery time of the product to the customer. Therefore industries must develop and implement new management philosophies like lean, agile, kitting manufacturing and concurrent engineering, etc. This paper deals with a study on the impact of ergonomic based kitting assembly system on occupational safety and health of workers in an automobile industry. Kitting production is most widely used in industries that are assembly-oriented or having a high amount of repetitive human processes. Kitting assembly reduces work space requirement, operator walking distance and time, work in process inventory. For these kinds of companies, improved systems can eliminate significant levels of waste or inefficiency. So, in this paper an overall analysis was carried out to minimise the wastages and to improve the efficiency in an assembly line. Here, data collection was carried out as follows: interviews with managers and supervisors, safety specialists, safety engineer, workers, in order to know their views on both the negative and positive impacts of Kitting assembly system. Questionnaire are aimed at assessing their views on the current working conditions and also aimed at assessing their views on the differences between the conventional assembly system and the new ergonomics based kitting assembly system. The result shows that a signiﬁcant increase in overall working condition of the industry which in turn led to the increase in the productivity. Also, factor analysis is carried out to group some important criteria into factors for conducting future analysis with worker to evaluate the ergonomic level of workers.
Automated packing systems - A systems engineering approach
1996, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Part A:Systems and Humans.
Hybrid digital manufacturing: Capturing the value of digitalization
2023, Journal of Operations Management
Cost modelling of onboard cobot-supported item sorting in a picking system
2021, International Journal of Production Research

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Design method of robot kitting sytem for flexible assemble

Abstract

Automated kitting for assembly

Experiments in part acquisition using robot vision

General methods to enable robots with vision to acquire orient and transport workpieces

Report No. NSF/SA 800334, PB81-148934

Process approach to planning a successful kitting system is outlined

Industrial Engineering

Automatic Kitting

IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin

The Prentice Hall Illustrated Handbook of Advanced Manufacturing Methods

Brake drum bin picking at Intel

Invariant image representation: A path toward solving the bin-picking problem

Acquiring connecting rod castings using a robot with vision and sensors

Ergonomics of robots

Analysis of two robot motion economy principles

Israel Journal of Technology

Kitting

Robots in Assembly