Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Examensarbete 15 hp
November 2010
Karokh Mohammed
Abstract
Design of a gripper tool for robotic picking and placing
Karokh Mohammed
Telefax: The report begins with a theoretical comparison between lifting and gripping
018 – 471 30 00 techniques for later deciding which technique is most suitable for picking and placing
the different parts. A pre-study and a short description about different transporting
Hemsida: systems have been made.
http://www.teknat.uu.se/student
After the pre-study different concepts were developed, the best suitable concept was
selected for further development and final construction. The final design of the
gripper tool was used in the robot cell-simulation program ABB Robot Studio for
choosing a proper cell design.
The gripper tool was designed in light weight material aluminium, and uses
electromagnets for picking and releasing the different notched part. The gripper tool
is assembled on an industrial robot from ABB, IRB 7600 with a handling capacity of
150 kg and 3.5m reach.
I detta examensarbete designas ett gripdon för en industrirobot som skall plocka och placera
olika laserskurna generatordetaljer. Produkten designas för Avdelningen för Elektricitetslära
vid Uppsala Universitet. En prototyp av gripdonet kan bli aktuellt i framtiden.
Arbetet inleddes med en teoretisk jämförelse mellan olika grepp- och lyfttekniker för att sedan
avgöra vilken grepp- respektive lyftteknik passar bäst för plockning och placering av de olika
detaljerna. Förstudie och en kort beskrivning av olika transportmetoder ingår.
Efter förstudien togs olika möjliga koncept fram för att sedan välja ut det bäst passande
konceptet för ytterligare utveckling och en slutlig konstruktion. Den slutliga designen
användes seden i robotcellsimuleringsprogrammet ABB Robot Studio för utförandet av
experimenten.
I
Content
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Context ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1.2 Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversation at Uppsala University ............ 1
1.2 Purpose ............................................................................................................................. 2
1.2.1 Criteria for the gripper tool ....................................................................................... 2
1.3 Methodology for the solution of this thesis ...................................................................... 3
1.4 Delimitations .................................................................................................................... 3
2 Gripper types and choice of gripper type ................................................................................ 4
2.1 Gripper types .................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.1 Single-surface grippers .............................................................................................. 4
2.1.2 Clamping grippers ..................................................................................................... 7
2.1.3 Flexible grippers ........................................................................................................ 8
2.2 Conclusion for selection of gripper type .......................................................................... 8
3 Pre-study and system overview ............................................................................................. 10
3.1 Survey of use .................................................................................................................. 10
3.2 System overview ............................................................................................................ 10
3.3 Study of the parts............................................................................................................ 11
3.4 Comparison with other systems ..................................................................................... 12
4 Concept generation for the gripper tool ................................................................................ 14
4.1 Concept 1........................................................................................................................ 14
4.2 Concept 2........................................................................................................................ 15
4.3 Concept 3........................................................................................................................ 16
4.4 Concept 4........................................................................................................................ 17
5 Evaluation and comparison of the concepts .......................................................................... 18
5.1 Evaluation....................................................................................................................... 18
5.2 Comparison .................................................................................................................... 18
6 Final construction for the gripper tool ................................................................................... 20
6.1 An overview of the gripper tool ..................................................................................... 20
6.2 The included parts of the gripper tool ............................................................................ 21
6.3 Solid Mechanics ............................................................................................................. 22
6.4 Economic calculation ..................................................................................................... 23
7 Experiment in ABB Robot Studio ......................................................................................... 24
II
7.1 Information about the Laser cutter and the industrial robot. .......................................... 24
7.2 An overview of the structured system ............................................................................ 25
8 Discussion and conclusions ................................................................................................... 27
8.1 Recommendation for future work .................................................................................. 28
9 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 29
10 References ........................................................................................................................... 30
11 Appendix ............................................................................................................................. 31
III
List of figures
Figure 1 The different notched parts.......................................................................................... 2
Figure 2 Permanent Magnet, picture taken from [4] page 204 ................................................. 4
Figure 3 Different types of suction cups, picture taken from [5] page 204 ............................... 5
Figure 4 Different types of suction cups from Anver, picture taken from [6] ............................ 6
Figure 5 Two and Three-jaw grippers from Schunk, picture taken from [7] ............................. 7
Figure 6 A multi fingered gripper, picture taken from [8] page 321......................................... 8
Figure 7 Survey of use .............................................................................................................. 10
Figure 8 An overview of the proposed system .......................................................................... 10
Figure 9 SheetMaster from Trumph, picture taken from [9] ................................................... 12
Figure 10 Heavy duty conveyor from QD-industries, picture taken from [10]........................ 12
Figure 11 Automatic steered fork lifters from Egemin Automtion, picture taken from [11].... 13
Figure 12 An overview of a overhead crane, picture taken from [12] ..................................... 13
Figure 13 Concept 1 ................................................................................................................. 14
Figure 14 Concept 2 ................................................................................................................. 15
Figure 15 Concept 3 ................................................................................................................. 16
Figure 16 Concept 4 ................................................................................................................ 17
Figure 17 End construction..................................................................................................... 20
Figure 18 Included parts .......................................................................................................... 21
Figure 19 Strength calculation ................................................................................................ 23
Figure 20 Calculation for displacement .................................................................................. 23
Figure 21 Working range for IRB 7600-150/3.5, picture taken from [16] .............................. 24
Figure 22 LVD laser cutter, picture taken from [17] ............................................................... 24
Figure 23 An overview of the structured system ...................................................................... 25
Figure 24 Transporting of Distansring .................................................................................... 26
IV
List of tables
Table 1 The round parts ............................................................................................................. 8
Table 2 Remaining parts ............................................................................................................ 9
Table 3 Round parts ................................................................................................................. 11
Table 4 Remaining parts .......................................................................................................... 11
Table 5 Evaluation of the concepts .......................................................................................... 18
Table 6 comparison and rating functions of the concepts ....................................................... 19
Table 7 all the included parts ................................................................................................... 21
Table 8 Mechanical properties of AW-EN 6063 T6. ................................................................ 22
Table 9 Economic calculation .................................................................................................. 23
Table 10 Specification for the industrial robot ........................................................................ 24
Table 11 Laser cutter specification .......................................................................................... 24
V
1 Introduction
The industrial robots are one of the most important devices for better, modern and safer
automation. Requirements of today’s manufacturing industries are very high. To meet the
requirements of the market many companies decide to use industrial robots for better and
cheaper products. The industrial robots can perform work in many areas of the industry e.g.
pick and place objects, assembly, welding, painting and many more. There are several
advantages of using industrial robots in manufacturing. Some of the benefits are:
Since the robots are flexible and possible to reprogram, increases the possibility of
changing in the production.
The working environment for the man becomes better and easier, because the robot
can carry heavy and do dangerous work.
More efficient production for a lower cost.
The robots can repeat the same work in exactly the same way, therefore the quality of
the production increases.
The robots who work in a certain area must have a suitable gripper for the work. There are
many types of grippers. The most common grippers are jaw-type, vacuum and magnetic
grippers. The selection of the gripper is very important as the gripper is the device between
the robot and the work piece.
1.1 Context
In May 2010 in a meeting with Mats Leijon and Erik Hultman about the topic for this
dissertation, robots were discussed and led to the further implementation of the idea onto this
project.
The electricity is generated by a linear generator. The linear generator is standing protected on
the seabed and is driven by a rope which is strapped to a buoy. Several of these wave power
units will be placed in the sea to generate electricity. The linear generators will be connected
to each other with standard cables at the seabed. The generated alternate current will be
converted into direct current with help of power electronics and then transported to land
through standard cables which will be connected to a power grid through a DC/AC converter.
[1]
1
1.2 Purpose
As described earlier there will be several linear generators which will be placed on the seabed.
A plan to produce these generators is being made at the Uppsala University. The
manufacturing subsidiary will be placed at Lysekil. Some of the parts will be handled by
industrial robots.
This thesis will investigate a design of a gripper in a robotic system. The robot will pick and
place laser notched sheet metal parts from a 20 mm sheet metal plate. The parts have
different shapes and sizes. The largest details weights about 200 kg and have an outside
diameter about 1270 mm. The robots job will be to pick up the different parts from the laser-
cutter and transport the parts to different cells. A theoretically comparison of different picking
and lifting technique will be made for the choice of the best technique.
The main purpose of this thesis is to suggest a suitable gripper for picking and placing the
parts as described earlier, also design the gripper in the 3D-CADprogram SolidWorks and use
the designed gripper in the robot cell-simulation program called ABB Robotstudio. The aim
of using ABB RobotStudio is to know how the gripper works in the reality because the robots
will work as they will be programmed in the cell-simulated program.
The gripper tool must be able to pick up various types of notched parts and place the parts in
different stations where the largest part is about 200 kg and have a outside diameter about
1270 mm. The parts must be ready for transportation to the next station within 30 minutes
with help of the industrial robot. The designed tool will be picking the larger parts only,
smaller parts are not included. The target size for the gripper is 2m x 2m. The material that is
being used for the gripper mostly copes with the shape and size of the gripper. The gripper
will be assembled with an industrial robot as descried earlier therefore the gripper must be
designed with consideration to the robot. The gripper must be able to hold the picked parts
even when there is power failure and the target price of the gripper is about 50 000 kr. For
secrecy reasons the exact measurement of the parts will not be published in this thesis
however for calculation the approximately measurements will be used. The notched parts is
shown in figure 1.
2
1.3 Methodology for the solution of this thesis
The methods that are being used in this thesis are:
1.4 Delimitations
Some delimitation has been made due to the limited time and because of the thesis are only 15
credits. The delimitations are:
The gripper will not remove the wastage material from the laser cutting process.
This thesis relates to only one type of gripper.
Small parts are not included.
Wiring is not included.
The electrical part is not included.
3
2 Gripper types and choice of gripper type
The robotic gripper is one of the most important parts in a robotic system. The gripper is the
device between the robot and the work piece. The selection of the gripper in a robotic system
is therefore very important. There are many different types of grippers and a wide variety of
factors to consider. The most common types of grippers are: jaw-type, vacuum and magnetic
grippers, the types of grippers can also be categorized into three main groups; single-surface
grippers, clamping grippers and flexible grippers [2].To decide which type of the grippers is
most suitable for picking up the parts and place the parts to the next station, a description of
the different gripping techniques and a conclusion will be presented in this chapter.
4
In addition to permanent magnets, a magnetic field can be electrically generated. The
magnetic field is generated by a wire wounded into a coil. When the electricity is passing
through the wire the magnetic field becomes active and the field disappears when the
electricity is gone. The electromagnetic lifters are often used for picking up various iron and
steel scraps. They are common in the manufacturing industries. Some objects can be
magnetized when picking with electromagnets but that problem can be reduced by connecting
the electromagnets to alternating current. The electromagnetic grippers can pick up and
release objects in few seconds which is beneficial when the time matters. Other benefits with
electromagnetic grippers are that they can be dimensioned for very big forces. [4]
Vacuum pumps
Ejectors
Suction bellows
Pneumatic cylinders
The vacuum grippers use suction cups (vacuum cups) as pick up devices. There are different
types of suction cups and the cups are generally made of polyurethane or rubber and can be
used at temperatures between -50 and 200 °C. The suction cup can be categorized into four
different types; universal suction cups, flat suction cups with bars, suction cups with bellow
and depth suction cups as shown in figure 3.
Figure 3 Different types of suction cups, picture taken from [5] page 204
5
The universal suction cups are used for flat or slightly arched surfaces. Universal suction cups
are one of the cheapest suction cups in the market but there are several disadvantages with
this type of suction cups. When the under pressure is too high, the suction cup decreases a lot
which leads to a greater wear.
The flat suction cups with bars are suitable for flat or flexible items that need assistance when
lifted. These types of suction cups provides a small movement under load and maintains the
area that the underpressure is acting on, this reduces the wear of the flat suction cup with bars,
this leads to a faster and safer movement.
Suction cups with bellows are usually used for curved surfaces, for example when separation
is needed or when a smaller item is being gripped and needs a shorter movement. This type of
suction cups can be used in several areas but they allow a lot of movement at gripping and
low stability with small underpressure. The depth suction cup can be used for surfaces that are
very irregular and curved or when an item needs to be lifted over an edge. [5]
Items with rough surfaces (surface roughness ≤ 5 µm for some types of suction cups) or items
that are made of porous material will have difficulty with vacuum grippers. An item with
holes, slots and gaps on the surfaces is not recommended to be handled with vacuum grippers.
The air in the suction is sucked out with one of the techniques described earlier, if the material
is porous or has holes on its surface, it will be difficult to suck out the air. In such cases the
leakage of air can be reduced if smaller suction cups are used. Figure 4 shows different types
of suction cups. [4]
Figure 4 Different types of suction cups from Anver, picture taken from [6]
6
2.1.2 Clamping grippers
Two-jaw grippers and three jaw-grippers are related to clamping grippers and occur
frequently in manufacturing factories. Clamping grippers can be designed relatively simple,
therefore the price can be cheaper. Clamping grippers straps the object that is being picked up
by applying pressure internally or externally to more than one of the object surfaces. This
type of grippers is driven pneumatic or hydraulic. For smaller object that doesn’t need big
forces the pneumatic technique is used and for heavy object that requires big forces the
hydraulic technique is used. The pneumatic technique is more common because of the low
price, low weight, and ease of use. [2]
When the shapes get more complex than the two-jaw gripper can handle, the three-jaw gripper
is option for objects with more complex shapes. The three-jaw grippers consist with three
gripping fingers and apply pressure like the two-jaw grippers. The three-jaw grippers are
more complex and therefore more expensive than two-jaw grippers. Figure 5 presents two and
three jaw grippers. [2]
Figure 5 Two and Three-jaw grippers from Schunk, picture taken from [7]
7
2.1.3 Flexible grippers
Flexible grippers consist with several linkages on each finger and two or several fingers. Each
linkage have normally an individual steering, this types of grippers can be compared with the
human hand. The flexible grippers are indented to handle a number of different items. A
variety of these grippers have been produced by various researches. Multi fingered grippers
that are related to flexible grippers are like a human hand lookalike gripper with more than
two fingers. This type of gripper can grasp object with very complex shapes because of the
linkages in the fingers that can be controlled individually. The fingers in these types of
grippers can be simulated after the shape of the object that will be grasped. Other types of
flexible grippers are soft grippers, bladder grippers and adjustable-jaw grippers. Figure 6
shows a multi fingered gripper. [2]
Figure 6 A multi fingered gripper, picture taken from [8] page 321
Weight 192 kg 42 kg 40 kg
Diameter 1270 mm 1260 mm 780 mm (length)
Thickness 20 mm 20 mm 20 mm
8
Table 2 Remaining parts
Weight 5 kg 24 kg 70 kg
Length 545 mm (R outside) 2180 mm 1960 mm
Width 505 mm (R inside) 70 mm
Thickness 20 mm 20 mm 20 mm
The parts are cut from 20 mm metal sheets, which mean there is only 2 cm on the side
surfaces available for gripping. As shown in the tables the parts have different shapes and
there are holes in almost every part. A clamping gripping technique will be very difficult and
expensive for gripping and handling the parts, because of the heaviness and the different
shapes of the parts. As described earlier it will be wastage of metal sheets around the parts
after that they have been notched from the laser. This can cause a problem if the parts will be
handled with clamping or flexible grippers. The wastage of sheet metal makes it difficult for
clamping grippers because the laser will only cut track in the metal sheet with less than one
mm width. That makes it difficult for the jaws of the clamping gripper to fit in. The flexible
grippers are often used for more complex shapes, e.g. cylindrical or spherical. The parts in
this thesis are not that complex and don’t require a high accuracy for handling, which means a
flexible gripper will not be an option.
When the laser cutter is done cutting, the parts will lie down on a table, which means an upper
surface will be available for gripping and lifting. For taking advantage of the upper surface
the single-surface grippers will be a great option. As described earlier single-surfaces grippers
includes vacuum grippers and magnetic grippers. The vacuum grippers are often used for
materials that are processed and don’t have a rough surface. As shown in table 1 and table 2
four of six parts includes holes. The holes will make it difficult for the suction cups, because
of the heaviness of the parts, a big suction cups will be required. Vacuum grippers require
often extremely clean surfaces.
The material of the part is of ferrous steel. That means that the parts can be handled with the
magnetic grippers. The two types of magnetic grippers, permanent-magnetic grippers and
electro-magnetic grippers can be used for picking up the parts and transport them to the next
station. The permanent magnet requires a mechanism for picking up and releasing the parts,
but electro-magnet will be a better choice because it doesn’t require any mechanism and the
strength of the electro-magnets can be controlled by the voltage, which could be perfect for
picking up the different parts.
9
3 Pre-study and system overview
The intended work process for the robot and the gripper is:
10
As seen in the picture, the pallet that stands next to the big robot is for uncut metal sheet. The
big robot have to pick the metal sheet that weight about 1 tonne and have a dimensions 3x1.5
m and 20 mm thickness and place it on the laser cutter table.
Weight 192 kg 42 kg 40 kg
Diameter 1270 mm 1260 mm 780 mm (length)
Thickness 20 mm 20 mm 20 mm
Area for 1265 150 250
gripping
Weight 5 kg 24 kg 70 kg
Length 545 mm (R outside) 2180 mm 1960 mm
Width 505 mm (R inside) 70 mm 230
Thickness 20 mm 20 mm 20 mm
Area for 40 mm 70 mm 230 mm
gripping
11
3.4 Comparison with other systems
SheetMaster from a company called Trumph is a different solution for picking and placing
parts as shown in figure 9. [9]
SheetMaster can pick up, transport and release different parts with help of a vacuum gripper.
The benefit with this system is that the system can be cheaper than the system in this thesis.
The disadvantages with this system are that it can only move in one direction and that the
parts are being gripped with vacuum gripper in this system, which can be a problem for the
parts in this thesis.
Another system for transporting items is transport with conveyers. This type of systems can
be relativity simple and cheap. The items can only be transported on the conveyer to the end
destination, which can have advantages but for the items in this thesis that lies down on the
table, the parts need to be lifted from the table to the conveyer before being transported to the
various stations. This type of system is not that flexible as industrial robots for transporting
the parts in this thesis, because if the parts are stuck with the metal scrap that lies around them
when being cut, the parts need therefore to be shacked so the scrap doesn’t follow when
transporting to another station.
Figure 10 Heavy duty conveyor from QD-industries, picture taken from [10]
12
Another way to transport the parts atomically is with help of automatic steered fork lifters as
shown in figure 11, the fork lifter in the picture is from a company called Egemin
Automation. This type of transport is often used for items that need to be transported a longer
distance. This type of transport will have difficult to pick up the notched parts that come out
from the laser cutter, as there is no space between the item that needs to be handled and the
table.
Figure 11 Automatic steered fork lifters from Egemin Automtion, picture taken from [11]
Overhead crane, also known as a bridge crane can be used for picking and placing items. This
type of crane can be used with heavy items and is common in steel industries. Figure 3.4
shows an overview for a type of overhead crane. This lifting technique is often used for bigger
and heavier items and if a smaller overhead crane is used for the parts in this thesis it will not
be as flexible as an industrial robot. The parts that need to be lifted in this thesis are not that
big and heavy, therefore such a big and space-consuming technique will not be necessary.
[12]
13
4 Concept generation for the gripper tool
In this chapter a description of different concepts with different designs will be presented.
Four different concepts will be presented; the concepts are designed with respect to the
criteria for the gripper tool and the different shapes of the parts which were presented in
chapter 3.3. A description of how the concepts are supposed to work and which advantages
and disadvantages they have will be clarified. The concepts have been designed in the 3D
cad-program Solid Works. The electromagnets in the concepts are from a company called
Svenska Magnet Fabriken. The small electromagnets can lift 250 N and have an outside
diameter of 32 mm. The large electromagnets can pick up 700 N and have an outside diameter
of 50 mm.
4.1 Concept 1
Figure 13 presents concept 1
Figure 13 Concept 1
Concept 1 includes four electromagnets. There are two large and two small magnets. The
electromagnets in middle of the gripper are the smaller ones and the magnets which sits at the
far end are the larger ones. The large magnets will pick the part Fläns and the small magnets
will pick Innerring and Distansring. When the large magnets are activated the smaller
magnets will be deactivated. However when the smaller magnet picks the larger magnets will
be deactivated. The remaining parts Hjulbana and Magnetplåt will be picked by all four
magnets. The electromagnets will have battery backup for security reasons, in case of power
failure.
Advantages
+ Light weight
+ Simple Design
Disadvantages
- Too little contact between the gripper and the item that being lifted
- Unsafe when moving the round parts
14
4.2 Concept 2
The following picture presents concept 2
Figure 14 Concept 2
Concept 2 includes eight electromagnets. There are six large and two small magnets. The
electromagnets in the middle of the tool are the smaller ones and the electromagnets which sit
at the far end and on the wings are the larger ones. The large magnets will pick the part Fläns
while the small magnets are deactivated. Furthermore the smaller magnets will pick Innerring
and Distansring while the larger magnets are deactivated. The remaining parts which are
Hjulbana and Magnetplåt, will be picked by the two small and two large magnets in the
middle while the electromagnets on the wings will be deactivated when lifting these two parts.
The electromagnets will have battery backup for security reasons, in case of power failure.
Advantages
+ Simple Design
+ Safer than concept 1
+ Light weight
Disadvantages
- Heavier weight than concept 1
- Too little contact between the gripper and the small round part Distansring.
15
4.3 Concept 3
Figure 15 presents concept 3
Figure 15 Concept 3
Concept 3 includes eight electromagnets. There are four large and four small magnets. The
electromagnets in middle of the concept are the smaller ones and the electromagnets which sit
at the far end are the larger ones. The large magnets will pick the part Fläns while the smaller
magnets are deactivated. The small magnets will pick Innerring and Distansring while the
large magnets are deactivated. The remaining parts, which are Hjulbana and Magnetplåt, will
be picked by two small and two large magnets which sit on line and the electromagnets that
doesn’t have any contact with the item while being lifted will be deactivated. The
electromagnets will have battery backup for security reasons, in case of power failure.
Advantages
+ Simple design
+ Safer than concept 1 and 2 when lifting and transporting
+ Four contact points between the gripper and almost all items that being lifted
Disadvantages
- Heavier than concept 1 and 2
16
4.4 Concept 4
The following picture presents concept 4
Figure 16 Concept 4
Concept 4 includes four electromagnets. The magnets in this concept are operated like the
magnets in concept 1. This concept doesn’t need battery backup for the electromagnets. The
difference with this concept is the “fingers” as shown in figure 4.4. The fingers will move up
when the robot goes down for gripping the items that lies down on the laser cutter table.
When they have been gripped and the robot lifts the item a bit over the laser cutter table the
“fingers” of the gripper will close. The fingers are for catching the items in case of power
failure.
Advantages
+ No need of battery backup
Disadvantages
- Too little contact between the gripper and the item that being lifted
- Unsafe when moving the round parts
- Complicated design
- Heavy weight
- Unsafe until the fingers comes under the items
- Needs more components for moving the fingers up and down.
17
5 Evaluation and comparison of the concepts
An evaluation and comparison of the different concepts will be presented in this chapter.
5.1 Evaluation
The evaluation of the concepts has been made against the product requirement specification.
The most important requirements are the following points:
The following table presents the concepts and the requirements. If the concepts meet the
requirements they receive a (Y) and if the concept doesn’t meet the requirements they receive
a (N). The requirements are the five above points.
Table 5 Evaluation of the concepts
Requirement 5 which is: The product will be installed on an industrial robot. The product
must be designed with consideration to the robot. None of the concepts meets the requirement
because the industrial robot has not been selected yet. The industrial robot will be selected
later in this thesis and the design of the gripper tool for installing on selected robot will be
made then. None of the concepts will fall away due to this requirement because the concept
that is selected later in this thesis, will be designed with consideration to the industrial robot.
5.2 Comparison
A comparison of the concepts will take place in this sub-chapter. All the concepts will be
compared to each other, even if some of the concepts don’t meet with all the requirements.
For knowing which concept is most suitable for picking and placing the different parts, a
comparison of different functions will be made. The functions will be rated from 1-10, there
10 is best and 1 is worst. The functions that being compared are:
18
Weight, lightest weight = 10
Holding during power failure, security during the whole transport way = 10
Table 6 comparison and rating functions of the concepts
Concept 4 2 1 3 4 10
As concept Most Heaviest Fingers for
1 complicated one catching the
design parts in case
of power
failure, don’t
secure all the
way
As seen in the table, concept three has scored the highest of all the concepts. Concept three
has a high score in all tasks, but concept 2 is not stabile when lifting for example Distansring,
therefore concept three gets a higher score than concept two. Concept one is great when it
comes to simplicity and light weight but the problem with this concept is the contact points
between some of the parts, for example Distansring and Fläns, this two parts are heavy and
big, a four-point contact will be more stable than a two-point which concept one offers.
Concept three has a four point contact with all the big and heavy parts, this makes the concept
the most stable when handling those parts. The design is not that complicated in concept three
and the weight is not so heavy either. Therefore concept three will be selected for further
development and construction.
19
6 Final construction for the gripper tool
As described in the earlier chapter, concept three was selected for further development and
construction. All the components that consist in this design will be described. An economic
calculation will take place at the end of this chapter.
As seen in figure 17 above, the design of the gripper tool is not complicated and works
relatively simple. Eight electromagnets are included in this gripper tool. The electromagnets
screws tight on the square aluminium tubes, the round part that can be seen in the back of the
gripper tool is the link between the industrial robot and the gripper tool. The square
aluminium tubes will be welded together and the round link will be welded to the square
aluminium tubes. The gripper will be screwed with the industrial robot. All the material and
components used in this final design are standard products that can be purchased from
suppliers except the link between the gripper and the robot and a part called magnethojare.
All parts can be handled by this gripper tool. Almost all the parts have a four-point contact
with the gripper only the Innerring will have a two-point contact. The four electromagnets in
the middle of the gripper tool, which are the smaller electromagnets, can be used for picking
Distansring. The two small and two large electromagnets, which are on the long square
aluminium tube, are intended to pick the parts Hjulbana and Mangetplåt. Innerring will be
picked by two small electromagnets in the middle of the gripper tool.
20
6.2 The included parts of the gripper tool
There are 24 parts included in this gripper tool. The parts can be seen in figure 18 and will be
described in table 7.
Drawings and information about the parts can be studied in the appendix 1 and 3 at the end in
this thesis.
Aluminium is used for this end construction due to aluminium’s fine qualities. Aluminium is
a light weight material and non-magnetic; which is perfect for this construction as the
electromagnets on the gripper tool could magnetize steel. The light weight of the gripper tool
is important because the industrial robots are designed handling a maximum weight.
21
6.3 Solid Mechanics
Strength calculations were made for the gripper tool. The purpose of this calculation was to
see if the aluminium and the dimensions of the gripper tool could cope with the forces they
are exposed too. The material that is being used is a sort of aluminium called AW-EN 6063-
T6. The mechanical properties of this material can be studied in table 8.[13]
Table 8 Mechanical properties of AW-EN 6063 T6.
To see if the gripper tool can cope with the forces, a calculation for the max stress in the
material of the gripper tool must be made. These formulas have been used to calculate the
max stresss:
(1.1)
(1.2)
The maximum torque will be in the middle of the gripper tool when lifting the heaviest part
Magnetplåt the maximum torque is about 560 Nm. The maximum stress is about 136
MPa, the tensile yield strength for the material is 214 MPa which means, the shape of the
gripper tool and the material is that being used is good enough for picking and placing the
different notched parts.
A strength calculation was made with the Finite Element Method, FEM, in the 3D CAD-
program Solid Works. The purpose of this calculation was to see where the maximum stress
occurred on the gripper tool. The heaviest part that needs to be lifted is Magnetplåt which
weights 70 kg and calculation was also made for Fläns because this part affects the
electromagnets which sit at the far end. Figure 19 on the next page shows the result of the
calculation. The maximum stress that can be seen in the figure, which is near the middle of
the gripper tool and is marked with circles .The picture to the left is for Magnetplåt and the
picture to right presents the result of the calculation for the Fläns. The pictures can be studied
closer in the appendix 2.
22
Figure 19 Strength calculation
A calculation for displacement was made in the same 3D CAD-program as the previous case.
The result of the calculation can be seen in figure 20. When lifting Magnetplåt, as can be seen
in the image to left, the effect is greatest at the end of the gripper tool. The displacement is
about 2 mm when handling Magnetplåt. When lifting Fläns, the displacement is about 0.8
mm. This small movement does not contribute to a greater angle. A great angle will affect the
electromagnets but in this case it will not be any problem.
23
7 Experiment in ABB Robot Studio
The purpose of this experiment was to test the gripper tool that being designed but also to get
an overview of robotized picking and placing of the different laser notched parts. A
description of the system and the industrial robot and the laser cutter will take place in this
chapter. It is important to notice that this structured system does not look like the intended
system, to construct the whole intended system is time consuming and this thesis does not
cover the construction of the entire system.
7.1 Information about the Laser cutter and the industrial robot.
Specification for the industrial robot from ABB can be seen in table 10. [17]
Table 10 Specification for the industrial robot
Figure 21 Working range for IRB 7600-150/3.5, picture taken from [16]
Specification for the laser cutter from LVD (not exact measurement) can be seen in figure 22
and table 11.[18]
Table 11 Laser cutter specification
24
7.2 An overview of the structured system
The system was built up in ABB Robot studio. There are two industrial robots in this system
as seen in figure 23. The industrial robot that has the gripper tool assembled is the robot that is
picking and placing the different notched parts. The other industrial robot is the big robot that
is supposed to load the laser cutter with uncut metal sheets. However this robot does not
perform any work in thesis, the robot only display the location for the big industrial robot.
The pallets are representing various stations for the different parts. The yellow fences are for
safety of the system.
The experiment started with structuring the system. The first step of structuring was to
coordinate the items into right places. In the Robot Studio, there is a so-called world
coordinate-system. This coordinate system is base for everything that is being imported to the
program. The items can be coordinated from this base coordinate system.
Next step is to teach the robot and the gripper tool the work they are supposed to do. This
step starts with creating work objects and robot targets. The work objects in this system are
the different notched parts that lie on the laser cutter table. After the work objects are defined
targets are being created. The targets are coordinate-systems in different places in the system.
When the targets have been created, the industrial robot is taught to move to the different
targets.
Also the gripper tool have to be taught to know what to do. First step was to assemble the
gripper tool onto the industrial robot. When the industrial robot is programed to the right
position for gripping the diffretent parts, the gripper tool becomes active. To activating the
gripper tool; attach and deattach signals were created. When the gripper tool is in the right
25
target, i.e above Distansring as seen in figure 24. The work object, which is Distansring,
attachs to the gripper tool and the industrial robot transports the work objekt to aimed station
and the gripper tool deattachs the workobject. The whole process for transporting Distansring
can be seen in figure 24. See appendix 4 for illustration of transport of all objects.
26
8 Discussion and conclusions
To design a gripper tool for an industrial robot has been very instructive. In the beginning of
this degree project, the gripper tool didn’t seem to be complicated. When reading and
knowing there are many factors to consider, the thesis became more instructive and
challenging.
The aim of this thesis was to design a gripper tool, make assemble drawings and detail
drawings for the gripper tool but also experiment with the gripper tool in robot cell-simulation
program ABB Robot Studio. The aim of the thesis has been reached and the gripper tool is
ready for testing with industrial robots in the reality.
The solid calculation which was presented in chapter 6.3 indicates that the material and the
design could cope with the forces that the gripper tool was exposed for. The yield strength for
the material was 214 MPa and calculations showed that the maximum stress in the material is
only 136 MPa. The calculation which was made in Solid Works, result of the calculation has
not been exactly the same when trying to do same calculation twice; it’s good to be critical to
the result, the different results may be caused by different mesh sizes in the program. The
material and shapes of the gripper tool can be changed if a stronger structure is desired.
To use ABB Robot Studio was a challenging experience. The whole experiment can be seen
in a short movie, see appendix 4. When picking and placing in the experiment in chapter 7,
the industrial robot was guided from target to target to know where the objects were placed on
the table. The parts that come out from the laser cutter will not have the same starting position
as in the experiment. It’s vital for the industrial robot to know the exact position of the parts
and also which part that have been cut. It’s important because the industrial robot must place
the gripper tool in exactly right position. It’s necessary that the electromagnets doesn’t go
outside the item that’s being handled, otherwise the electromagnets will grip the scrap of sheet
metal.
The gripper tool needs only a few seconds to active the electromagnets and lift the details.
When the items come out from the laser cutter, they will have scrap of metal sheets around
them and the items might need to lie down some minutes on the table to be cooled. The items
can be stuck in the scrap of metal sheets around them, to avoid the scrap, the items might need
to be shacked to loosen before being lifted. Due to this problems and the system in this thesis
doesn’t look like the supposed system, it has been difficult to see if the items can be
transported within 30 minutes which was a criteria.
The target price for the gripper tool was 50 000 kr, the gripper tool in this thesis costs about
10500, the product price is not exact because it have been difficult to know about the price for
welding and assemble work. Another criteria was the size of the gripper tool, the target size of
the gripper tool was 2m x 2m, the size of the designed gripper tool is 1.3m x 1.3m.
27
8.1 Recommendation for future work
As described earlier the industrial robots needs to know the exact position of the parts when
coming out from the laser cutter. A vision camera system, which is common in some
production areas, or creating some mechanism for positioning the parts that has been notched
is recommended.
The industrial robots that are being used in this experiment are from ABB. There are many
suppliers for industrial robots. Some of the suppliers are KUKA, FANUC and Motoman. All
the suppliers have similar robots as the robots that are being used in the experiment, i.e. a
version KR 210 L150-2 from KUKA which is similar to the smaller robot in the experiment
can perform the same work. A recommendation is to compare the industrial robots from
different suppliers and see which one of them is best suitable for this work.
Last but not least, another recommendation is to have a closer look at the permanent magnets.
It is usual that permanent magnets are being magnetized manually. Mechanism can be created
for automatically magnetize and demagnetize the permanent magnets. The electromagnets
that are being used in this thesis needs battery backup for safety reasons, the electromagnets
can be replaced with permanent magnets if they can be magnetized automatically. That would
eliminate the need for battery backup.
28
9 Acknowledgements
A special thanks to Mats Leijon and the division for electricity at Uppsala University for
giving me this opportunity to complete my examination
Thanks to preceptor Erik Hultman for all help and discussions through the work, thanks a lot.
A special thanks to my fiancée for helping me with the language and the layout of the report.
Many thanks to my friends for helping me with all ideas and discussions through the work
29
10 References
[1] Uppsala University. Division for Electricity 2010. http://www.el.angstrom.uu.se
(Retrieved 2010-09-12)
[2] D.T. Pham, S. H. Yeo. Grippex: A hybrid expert system for selecting robot gripper types,
(1990), 349-352.
[3] D.T. Pham, S. H. Yeo. A knowledge-based system for robot gripper selection: criteria for
choosing grippers and surfaces for gripping, (1988), 301- 313.
[4] Gareth J.Monkman, Stefan Hesse, Ralf Steinmann, Henrik Schunk (2007). Robot
Grippers, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim (ISBN 0-13-033030-2).
[8] Yoshihiro Kusuda. High speed vision sensor and quick robotic hand enable a robot to
catch a ball (2003), 319-321.
[15] Bengt Sundström (1999), Handbok och formelsamling i Hållfasthetslära, Fingraf AB,
Södertälje.
30
11 Appendix
Appendix 1 Assemble and detail drawings
Appendix 3 Information about material and components that are being used
31
7
5
1 2
x 50 TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
3 stormagnet 4 ANGULAR:
5 sidanbalk_40x40x3_l 2
DRAWN Karokh Mohamemd
630 CHK'D
x 50
Assem2
Q.A MATERIAL:
A3
DWG NO.
7 magnethojare 4
8 litenmagnet 4 WEIGHT: SCALE:1:20 SHEET 1 OF 1
A
8x
10
8x4
5°
A-A
0
16
200
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
hallare
Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.
A4
Aluminum 6063-T6
R3
R3
1:2
,7
5
A 5 D
2X
B
B
56,3
400
1:5
4
2X
C
1243,8
900
C
1:5
1300
D
1:2
A
20
A-A
1 : 10
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND
DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
MATERIAL:
mittenbalk_40x40x3_L1300
Q.A DWG NO.
A4
Aluminum 6063-T6
WEIGHT: SCALE:1:1 SHEET 1 OF 1
40 ,7 5
R3
34
R3
40
34
1:2
20
A
5
B
56,3
M
2:5
400
630
D
C 4
N
2:5
D
2:5
A
A-A
1:5
UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED: FINISH: DEBUR AND
DO NOT SCALE DRAWING REVISION
DIMENSIONS ARE IN MILLIMETERS BREAK SHARP
SURFACE FINISH: EDGES
TOLERANCES:
LINEAR:
ANGULAR:
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
MATERIAL:
sidanbalk_40x40x3_l630
Q.A DWG NO.
A4
Aluminum 6063-T6
WEIGHT: SCALE:1:10 SHEET 1 OF 1
A 5
A
A-A
32
CHK'D
APPV'D
MFG
magnethojare
Q.A MATERIAL:
DWG NO.
A4
Stainless steel
Calculations of
elektro
MAGNETER
17
Elektro hållmagneter
Artnr a b c d e effekt (W) kraft (N)
emag 25 25 20 200 M4 6 3,2 115
emag 32 32 22 200 M4 6 3,4 250
emag 40 40 25,5 200 M5 8 4,6 375
emag 50 50 27 200 M5 8 6,4 700
emag 65 65 30 200 M8 12 8,2 1000
0220-150 80
Aluminium - Plåt - Tjock plåt
EN AW-6060/6063
EN AW-6060/6063 T6
T6 Naturanodiserad 10 My
Dimension Vikt
mm kg/m Art.nr kr/kg Art.nr kr/m
15x 15x 1,0 0,15 78375 56,55 8,48
18x 18x 1,0 0,18 82682 53,43 9,62
20x 10 x1,5 0,22 16399 53,43 170968 22,06
20x 20 x1,0 0,21 88800 53,43 11,22
20x 20x 1,5 0,30 47693 53,43 16,03
20x 20x 2,0 0,39 56216 53,43 170973 25,90
25x 15 x1,5 0,30 96741 53,43 171132 22,50
25x 15 x2,0 0,39 65621 53,43 20,84
25x 25 x1,5 0,38 90844 53,43 171141 24,69
25x 25x 2,0 0,50 75908 53,43 26,72
30x 20x 1,5 0,38 39921 53,43 20,30
30x 20x 2,0 0,50 41338 53,43 26,72
30x 30x 1,5 0,46 99128 53,43 24,58
30x 30x 2,0 0,60 68241 53,43 170927 33,75
30x 30x 3,0 0,88 16250 53,43 47,02
35x 17x 2,0 0,52 17653 53,43 170929 32,52
35x 35x 2,0 0,71 14073 53,43 171131 41,69
40x 20 x1,5 0,46 54168 53,43 24,58
40x 25 x2,0 0,66 31174 53,43 170977 40,04
40x 40x 2,0 0,82 50574 53,43 170928 36,38
40x 40x 3,0 1,20 83896 53,43 64,12
45x 45x 2,0 0,93 60862 53,43 49,69
50x 30x 2,0 0,82 66153 53,43 170979 34,88
50x 30 x2,5 1,01 74209 53,43 53,96
50x 50x 2,5 1,28 77029 53,43 68,39
50x 50 x3,0 1,52 22297 53,43 81,21
60x 40x 2,5 1,28 94078 53,43 68,39
60x 60 x3,0 1,85 30913 53,43 98,85
70x 70x 2,0 1,47 22010 53,43 78,54
80x 40x 2,5 1,55 47290 53,43 82,82
80x 40x 3,0 1,85 85308 53,43 98,85
80x 80 x3,0 2,49 53901 53,43 133,04
100x 40x 2,5 1,82 19904 53,43 97,24
100x 50x 3,0 2,33 58119 53,43 124,49
100x 2x 18,5x2,5 1,32 60518 53,43 70,53
120x 40x 2,5 2,09 18029 53,43 111,67
150x 50x 3,0 3,14 82224 53,43 167,77