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,
multi-functional
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
components of the
manipulator.

rigid
robot

The purpose of the joint is to

provide controlled relative
movement between the input

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
body-and-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-of-freedom. 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-offreedom 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 notatio

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
designated RRR.

has

three

rotational

joints,

Hence,

it

is

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:

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 (bodyand-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
actuators.

systems

use

electric

motors

as

joint

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
sophisticated industrial robots.

drive

are

used

on

more-

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 for spot welding, pick-and-place
operations and so on.

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

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)

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