MFGE 404

Computer Integrated Manufacturing

CIM

ATILIM

UNIVERSITY

Manufacturing Engineering Department

Lecture 8 Industrial Robots

Fall 2005/2006

Dr. Saleh AMAITIK

What is an Industrial Robot

An industrial robot is a
programmable,
multifunctional
manipulator
designed
to
move
materials, parts, tools, or
special devices through
variable
programmed
motions
for
the
performance of a variety
of tasks.

The robot, therefore,

represents
flexible
automation and so it fits
well in the frame of CIM

Robot Construction
The manipulator of an industrial robot consists of a number of
rigid links connected by joints of different types, controlled
and monitored by a computer.
The link assembly is connected to the body, which is usually
mounted on a base.
To a large extend, the physical construction of a robot
resembles a human arm.
A wrist is attached to the arm.

To facilitate gripping or handling, a hand is attached at the

end of the wrist, this hand is called an end-effector.
The complete motion of the end-effector is accomplished
through a series of motions and positions of the links, joints,
and wrist.
Robot construction is concerned with the types and sizes of
joints, links and other aspects of the manipulator.

Joints and Links or Robots

A joint of an industrial robot is similar to a joint in the human
body: It provides relative motion between two parts of the body.
Each joint, or axis as it is sometimes called, provides the robot
with a so-called degree-of-freedom (D.O.F) of motion.
In nearly all cases, only one degree-of-freedom is associated
with a joint.
Connected to each joint are two
links, an input link and output
link.
Links are the rigid components of
the robot manipulator.
The purpose of the joint is to
provide
controlled
relative
movement between the input link
and the output link.

Joints and Links or Robots

Most of robots are mounted on a stationary base on the floor.

The base and its connection to the first joint is Link 0.

Link 0 is the input link of joint 1, the first joint of a series of joints used
in the construction of the robot.

The output link of joint 1 is the link 1.

Link 1 is the input lint to joint 2, whose output link is link 2, and so forth.

Classification of Robot Joints

Nearly all industrial robots have mechanical joints that can be classified
into one of the five types:
Two types that provide translational motion.
Three types that provide rotary motion

1. Linear Joint (type L joint)

The relative movement between the input link and the output link
is a translational sliding motion, with the axes of the two links
being parallel.

Classification of Robot Joints

2. Orthogonal joint (type O joint)
This is also a translational sliding motion, but the input link and
output links are perpendicular to each other during the move.

Classification of Robot Joints

3. Rotational Joint (type R joint)
This type provides rotational relative motion, with the axis of
rotation perpendicular to the axes of the input and output links.

Classification of Robot Joints

4. Twisting Joint (type T joint)
This joint also involves rotary motion, but the axis of rotation is
parallel to the axes of the two links.

Classification of Robot Joints

5. Revolving Joint (type V joint, V from the v in revolving)
In this joint type, the axis of the input link is parallel to the axis
of rotation of the joint, and the axis of the output link is
perpendicular to the axis of rotation

Common Robot Configurations

A robot manipulator can be divided into two sections:

A Body-and-arm assembly.
Wrist assembly.

There are usually three degree-of-freedom associated with the bodyand-arm , and either two or three degrees-of-freedom with the wrist.

At the end of the manipulators wrist is a device related to the task that
must be accomplished by the robot. The device, called an end effector, is
usually either:
1. A gripper for holding a workpart, or
2. A tool for performing some process.

The body-and-arm of the robot is used to position the end effector, and
the robots wrist is used to orient the end effector.

Body-and-Arm Configurations

There are five basic configurations commonly available in commercial

industrial robots:

1. Spherical (Polar) Configuration

This configuration consists of a sliding arm (L joint) actuated relative to
the body, that can rotate about a vertical axis (T joint) and a
horizontal axis (R joint)

Body-and-Arm Configurations
2. Cylindrical Configuration

This robot configuration consists of a vertical column, relative to

which an arm assembly is moved up and down. The arm can be
moved in and out relative to the axis of the column.

A T joint to rotate the column about its axis. An L joint is used to

move the arm assembly vertically along the column. An O joint is
used to achieve radial movement of the arm.

Body-and-Arm Configurations
3. Cartesian (Rectangular) Configuration

It is composed of three sliding joints, two of which are orthogonal.

Body-and-Arm Configurations
4. Jointed-arm robot (articulated) Configuration

This robot manipulator has the general configuration of a human

arm. The joined arm consists of a vertical column that swivels about
the base using a T joint.

At the top of the column is a shoulder joint (R joint), whose about

link connects to an elbow joint (R joint)

Body-and-Arm Configurations
5. SCARA (Selective Complains Assembly Robot Arm)

This configuration is similar to the jointed robot except that the

shoulder and elbow rotational axes are vertical, which means that
the arm is very rigid in the vertical direction, but complaint in the
horizontal direction.

Wrist Configurations

The robots wrist is used to establish the orientation of the end

effector. Robot wrists usually consists of two or three degrees-offreedom. The three joints are defined as:
1. Roll, using a T joint to accomplish rotation about the robots arm axis.
2. Pitch, which involves up-and-down rotation, typically a R joint.
3. Yaw, which involves right-and-left rotation, also accomplished by
means of an R-Joint.

A two D-O-F wrist typically includes only roll and pitch joints (T and
R joints)

Joint Notation System

The letter symbols for the five joint types (L, O, R, T, and V) can be used
to define a joint notation system for the robot manipulator.

In this notation system, the manipulator is described by the joints that

make up the body-and-arm assembly, followed by the joint symbols that
make up the wrist.

For example, the notation TLR:TR represents a five degree-of-freedom

manipulator whose body-and-arm is made up of :
1. A twisting joint (Joint 1 = T)
2. A linear joint (joint 2 = L)
3. A rotational joint (joint 3 = R)

The wrist consists of two joints:

4. A twisting joint (joint 4 = T)

5. A rotational joint (joint 5 = R)

A colon separates the bod-and-arm notation from the wrist notation.

Joint Notation System - Example

Designate the robot configurations shown below, using the joint

notation scheme.

Solution

1. This configuration has two linear joints, Hence, it is designated LL.

2. This configuration has three rotational joints, Hence, it is designated RRR.

3. This configuration has one twsiting joint and one linear joint. This is
indicated by TL

Joint Notation System - Example

The robots shown below are equipped with a wrist that has twisting, rotary,
and twisting joints in sequence from the arm to the end-effector. Give the
designation for the complete configuration of each robot

For the robots shown above, the complete designation is as follows:

(a) LRL:TRT

(b) RRL:TRT

(c) TRL:TRT

(d) LVL:TRT

Work Volume

The work volume (work envelope) of the manipulator is defined as the

envelope or space within which the robot can manipulate the end of its
wrist.

Work volume is determined by:

1. the number and types of joints in the manipulator (body-and-arm
and wrist),
2. the ranges of the various joints, and
3. the physical sizes of the links

The shape of the work volume depends largely on the robots

configuration

Work Volume
A Cartesian robot has a rectangular work volume

Work Volume
A cylindrical robot has a cylindrical work volume

Work Volume
A spherical robot tends to have a sphere as its work volume

Joint Drive System

A robot joints are actuated using any of three possible types of
drive systems:
1. Electric drive.
2. Hydraulic drive.
3. Pneumatic drive
Electric drive systems use electric motors as joint actuators.
Hydraulic and pneumatic drive systems use devices such as linear
pistons and rotary vane actuators to accomplish the motion of
the joint.

Pneumatic drive is typically limited to smaller robots used in simple

material transfer applications.

Electric drive and hydraulic drive are used on more-sophisticated

industrial robots.

Electric drive robots are relatively accurate compared with hydraulically

powered robots. By contrast, the advantages of hydraulic drive include
greater speed and strength.

Robot Control Systems

The actuations of the individual joints must be controlled in a
coordinated fashion for the manipulator to perform a desired
motion cycle.
Robot controllers can be classified into four categories:
1. Limited sequence control.
2. Point-to-point control.
3. Continuous path control.
4. Intelligent control.

Limited sequence control uses mechanical stops to provide the

extreme ranges of motion and when motion command is used,
the joint is driven until the mechanical stop is reached. This
technique is no longer used.

Robot Control Systems

Point-to-point involves the specification of the starting point and
end point (and often intermediate points) of the robot motion
requiring a control system which renders some feedback at those
points.
This technique is used
operations and so on.

for

spot

welding,

pick-and-place

Continuous Path Control requires the robot end effector to follow

a stated path from the starting point to the end point.
This technique is required in many applications that require the
actual tracing of a contour, for instance, in arc welding or spray
painting.

The continuous path robots usually follow a series of closely

spaced points on a path and these points are defined by the
control unit rather than the programmer. In many cases, the
paths between points are straight lines

Robot Control Systems

Intelligent Control An intelligent robot is one that exhibits
behavior that makes it seem intelligent. Some of the
characteristics that make a robot appear intelligent include the
capacity to :
1. Interact with its environment.
2. Make decisions when things go wrong during the work cycle.
3. Make computations during the motion cycle.
4. Respond to advanced sensor inputs such as machine vision.

End Effectors
The end effector enables the robot to accomplish a specific task.
Because of the wide variety of tasks performed by industrial
robots, the end effector must usually be custom-engineered and
fabricated for each different application.
Two categories of end effectors are
1. Grippers.
2. Tools.

Tools are used in applications where the robot must perform some
processing operation on the part. Examples of the tools are:
1. Spot welding gun.
2. Arc welding tool.

3. Spray painting gun.

4. Rotating spindle for drilling, grinding, and so forth.
5. Assembly tool (e.g. automatic screw driver)
6. Heating torch.

End Effectors
Grippers are end effectors used to grasp and manipulate objects
during the work cycle

Industrial Robot Applications

The general characteristics of industrial work situations that tend
to promote the substitution of robots for human labor are the
following:
1. Hazardous work environment for human.

2. Repetitive work cycle.

3. Difficult handling for human.
4. Multishift operation.

5. Infrequent changeover
6. Part position and orientation are established in the work cell

Industrial Robot Applications

Robots are being used in a wide field of applications in industry.
Most of the current applications of industrial robots are in
manufacturing.
The applications can usually classified into one of the following
categories:
1. Material handling applications
1. Material transfer.
2. Machine loading and/or unloading.
2. Processing operations
1. Spot welding
2. Continuous arc welding
3. Spray coating
4. Other processing applications
3. Assembly