UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA

SCHOOL OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL

ENGINEERING

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
SINGAPORE INTAKE 3

FINAL EXAMINATION SEPTEMBER 2003

ROBOTICS AND COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING

MFET.4012

Time Allowed: Three (3) hours

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1. This is closed book examination and no references are allowed
2. Answer to ALL questions.
3. Questions are of equal value.
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1. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of raster display graphics.

Answer: Advantages
High refresh rate
–1/30 second for normal TV
–1/60 to over 1/100 second for monitors
Disadvantages: Lower resolution
High memory display buffer for high resolution display
2. How many colours can be displayed simultaneously in a 24 bit planes raster
display?
Answer: 256 (28) different levels can be defined for each colour and thus a total of 16,777,216
(224) colours can be defined and displayed simultaneously on the display device.
Why are nonparametric curves not adequate for CAD applications?

Answer:
1. There is an evident problem with the explicit expression for a straight line, in
that the slope, m, of the line is infinite for a vertical line and near vertical lines have
very large slopes, and these may be difficult to define using a computer because of
numerical problems.
2. The implicit equations represent unbounded geometry, where as in CAD the
geometries are bounded.
3. In implicit form, curves are often multi-valued, eg for a given value of X, there
are two values of Y.
4.In implicit form, evaluation of points on a curve is uneven for a given X-value.
4. What is a Bezier curve and how it is defined?
Answer:
 The Bezier curve, is defined by the vertices of a polygon that enclose the
resulting curve. In other words, the effects of the vertices are weighted by the
corresponding blending function and blended as in the Hermite curve.

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  Bezier selected the blending function so that the resulting curve has the
following properties:
 The curve passes through the first and last vertex of the polygon.
 The tangent vector at the starting point of the curve has the same direction as
the first segment of the polygon.
 Similarly, the last segment of the polygon gives the slope of the tangent vector
at the ending point.
 The nth derivative of the curve at the starting or ending point is determined by
the first or last (n + 1) vertices of the polygon.

5. Name at least five applications of surface modelling.

Answer:
1. Verification of design intent
2. Accurate section generation
3. Surface inputs for Finite Element Modelling (FEM) and Finite
Element Analysis (FEA)
4. Shaded renderings for visualisation and presentation
5. Create a solid body by sewing several sheets together to totally
enclose a volume.
6. Surface a wire frame part.
7. Surface inputs for Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Tooling
8. Rotated surfaces for tool, mould, and die design
9. Surfaces for Numerical Control (NC) machining of models and
tools
10. Concurrent Engineering
6. What are the two principal types of data for describing a solid model

Answer:
1.topological data.
2.geometrical data

7. Describe the procedure for the construction of a parametric (variational) solid model.
Answer:
1.Input a 2-D shape as a rough sketch.
2.Input geometric and dimensional constraints
3.Reconstruct the 2-D shape for the given geometric constraint and dimensional data.
4.Repeat steps 2 and 3, modifying the geometric constraints and/or dimensional data until the
desired model is obtained.
5.Create a 3-D shape by sweeping or swinging the 2-D sketch
8. What is a decomposition model structure. Name the three decomposition methods used
in solid modelling

Answer:
A solid model which is described approximately as an aggregate of simple solids such as cubes
is called a decomposition model.
Typical decomposition models and the data structures for storing them include:
1.Voxel representation
2.Octree representation
3.Cell representation
9. Name at least three types of languages used in Web-Based CAD modelling

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 Answer:
1) VRML which is accepted by standard Web browsers for 3-D models
2) Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) , 2-D format
3) Autodesk's Drawing Web Format (DWF), requires a special plug-in to the browser, 2-D
format.
4) Autodesk Volo View Express, 3-D format
5) EDS Vis Concept, 3-D
10. What are the differences between multi-part assemblies and virtual assemblies?
Answer:
Multi-part assemblies approach copies all resident part data into the assembly file. This yields
an unintelligent assembly where none of the resident parts are linked to their original parts. It
takes more memory to store all the fully loaded piece parts that make up the assembly.
Virtual assemblies approach takes advantage of linking part files that make up an assembly. By
linking part files instead of copying them, your assemblies (and sub-assemblies) can take
advantages of the following:
 RAM requirements for your assemblies are reduced
 The display of the assembly can be simplified without editing the underlying geometry.
 Assemblies are automatically updated if master parts are changed.
 Locational relationships between components in an assembly can be defined.
 Other applications (Drafting, Manufacturing, etc.) can use the master data without
having the ability to change it.
 There is only one copy of geometry data, so edits and revisions done to the master part
are reflected in all assemblies that reference that part.
11. What is the “aliasing” effect present in raster scan display? How is it overcome (anti-
aliasing)?
Answer:
Pixels produce inclined lines and curves using horizontal elements (staircasing effect
“aliasing”). Variable intensity allows for “antialiasing” techniques to reduce staircasing effect,
that is by changing the intensity for adjacent pixels to produce a “blurring”, this serves to hide
the jagged effect.

12. What is a “point light”? A directed light? A spotlight? For each, describe the concept
and the controls needed to use the light in a rendering “scene”.
Answer:
Point sources:
–Light rays which emanate evenly from a single source.
–Intensity of all rays is equal
–A simple analogy would be that of an incandescent light bulb.
Directed:
–Infinitely distant point source.
–A simple analogy would be a distant sun
–Light rays are parallel and equal in intensity
–Requires specification of a “target”
Spot Light
–A variation of the directed source
–Light rays not parallel but emanate in a cone
–Requires specification of a “target”
–May have control of an inner “hot cone”

13. Describe at least two different methods of data exchange in CAD/CAM/CAE

systems Discuss their advantages and disadvantages.

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 Answer:
1. Direct Database translation N=n(n-1)
•ADVANTAGE: yields excellent result.
•
•DISADVANTAGE: needs to be replaced for each new version of either CAD/CAM system,
and the number of direct translators grows exponentially with the number of CAD/CAM
systems.
•ADVANTAGE: the CAD/CAM vendor needs to write and maintain only two translators.
•DISADVANTAGE:Some entities will be loss through translating into these neutral formats
because neutral format translators are most often written by CAD/CAM vendors who best
know their own product.

The stage of going from these fuzzy set values to a single value is called de-fuzzification.
The procedure of taking a single value from each rule is as follows:
•If the rule uses AND the lowest value is taken.
•If the rule uses OR the highest value is taken.
•Precedence defines how combinations of AND/OR are interpreted.
15. two typical software technologies to improve the graphics speed for an assembly of many
parts, namely Level of detail (LOD0 and culling. Explain briefly the principle of each
technique.
Answer:
 LOD is a technique to use the lower level of detail of an object when it is
farther away or moving and to use the higher level of detail when it is closed up
or static. In other words, we use a smaller number of facets to represent the
object for the lower level of detail and vice versa.
 Culling is a technique to send only the necessary object information to the
graphics hardware. The objects outside the view frustum or those that are
hindered by other objects are not sent to the graphics pipeline.

The concept of automated systems can be applied to various levels of factory operation.
Identify five possible levels of automation in a production plant.

17. What are the major differences between an “adaptive control” and a “feedback control”
applied to the industrial control?

18. Using the robot configuration notation scheme, draw diagrams of the following robots:

1. TRL:TR
2. TVR:TR
3. RRL:T
4. LORV:RT

R
Control Resolution CR =
2 1
n

20. Two stepping motors are used in an open loop system to drive the lead screws for x-y
positioning. The range of each axis is 250 mm. The shaft of the motors are connected directly to
the lead screws. The pitch of each lead screw is 3.0 mm, and the number of step angles on the
stepping motor is 125. (a) How closely can the position of the table be controlled, assuming
there are no mechanical errors in the positioning system? (b) What are the required pulse train
frequencies and corresponding rotational speeds of each stepping motor in order to drive the

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table at 275 mm/min in a straight line from point (x = 0, y = 0) to point (x = 130 mm, y = 220
mm)?
3mm
Solution: (a) table position can be controlled to = 0.024 mm.
125
(b) Travel rate of the table vt = 275 mm/min from (x = 0, y = 0) to (x = 130 mm, y = 220 mm).
Angle = tan-1(220/130) = 59.42
Travel rate for x-axis = 275 cos 59.42 = 139.9 mm/min.
139.9mm / min.
x-axis motor speed N = = 46.63 rev/min.
3mm / rev.
125pulse / rev( 46.63rev / min)
Pulse rate fp = = 97.15 Hz
60s / min.
Travel rate for y-axis = 275 sin 59.42 = 236.7 mm/min.
236.7mm / min.
y-axis motor speed N = = 78.92 rev/min.
3mm / rev.
125pulse / rev( 78.92rev / min)
Pulse rate fp = = 164.41 Hz
60s / min.
(a) .

(a) A DAC uses a reference voltage of 80 V and has 6-bit precision. In four successive
sampling periods, each one second long, the binary data contained in the output
register were 100000, 011111, 011101, and 011010. Determine the equation for the
voltage as a function of time between sampling instants 3 and 4 using (a) a zero-
order hold, and (b) a first-order hold.

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******************** END OF EXAMINATION PAPER ********************

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 APPENDIX

List of equations

E0  Eref [o.5 B1  0.25 B2  0.125 B3  ....( 2n ) 1 Bn ]

For the first order hold E (t )  E0   .t

360. x.rg
np 
p.
60 f p
N 
ns rg
Where np = number of pulses, x = x-axis position, p = pitch of the leadscrew,  = step angle, ns
= step per revolution, rg = gear ratio, fp = pulse train frequency in Hz

CR p L
Accuracy = + 3 , CR1 = , CR2 = B .
2 n srg 2 1
Where ns = number of step angles, rg = gear ratio and L = axis range

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