Robotics for Manufacturing

A Michigan Robotics Focus Area:

Manufacturing research has long been a strength at the University of
Michigan, and robotics is already being widely used in automotive and
other manufacturing plants. Continuing research is needed to expand the
role of robotics in manufacturing applications by improving robot
capabilities and safety and reducing cost and energy consumption.

Contributing Faculty:
Kira Barton
Chinedum Okwudire
Kazuhiro Saitou
Dawn M. Tilbury
A. Galip Ulsoy
 Introduction
Industrial Robots

• There are approximately 1.5 million

industrial robots in operation today
world-wide (e.g., approx. 300,000 in
Japan, 200,000 in North America,
125,000 in S. Korea)
• They perform tasks such as welding,
spray paining and assembly in a
variety of industries.
• They are typically preprogrammed
to repeat the same task, are among
the most reliable machines
available, and are operated in
isolation from humans for safety.
• Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
are also widely used in
manufacturing plants for material
handling.
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
 Research Needs
Kiva Systems: Flexible Material Handling
• Safety research is needed to
enable operation with and
around humans.
• Cost reduction will enable use
for smaller volume production
and by small companies.
• Energy consumption is high,
and needs to be reduced.
• Dexterity and precision must
be improved for many
assembly tasks.
• Coordination among robots
and with other automated
machines.
• Flexibility and Autonomy are
important to move beyond
mass production. Rethink Robotics: Low-Cost Assembly Robot
Baxter
 Precision Motion Control for High-Speed, High-
Resolution Manufacturing (Barton)
• Goal: Design advanced sensing
and controls algorithms for high
precision motion control
• Iterative Learning Control
o Flexible learning strategies
o Robust learning for a range of
applications
o Cooperative learning control strategies
Fig. 1: Cooperative learning strategies. Develop
• Advanced Sensing Strategies cooperative learning control techniques to enable efficient
o High-resolution sensing techniques and effective surveillance and monitoring operations.
o Atomic force microscopy for
topographical and charge density
sensing
o Vision-based detection
• Applications
o Emerging manufacturing processes
o High-resolution, high-speed
manufacturing systems
o Rehabilitation robotics
Fig. 2: ILC process. As the number of iterations increases, the
o UAVs and other autonomous systems feedforward time domain control signal is determined and the
error signal is minimized.
Design and Control of Cartesian Robots (Feed Drives) for
Improved Performance and Energy Efficiency (Okwudire)
Guideway Motor

• Goal: Improve performance and

energy efficiency of feed drives Table
Screw
• Dynamically adaptive feed drives (smooth shaft)
o Design feed drives such that dynamic
properties change based on
manufacturing operation
o Integrally design time-varying controllers
to ensure stability and performance
under various dynamic configurations Dynamically Adaptive
o Determine optimal dynamic Hybrid Feed Drive
configurations/controllers to ensure Linear Motor
desired performance at minimal energy
Engagement/disengageme
consumption
nt
• Example: Hybrid feed drive mechanism
o Feed drive is driven by linear and/or (located under table)
Disengagable
rotary motors depending on manuf. Pneumatic pistons
operation Roh’lix nut
o Moving mass, drive point, sensing
location, etc. change dynamically
o Up to 25% improvement in energy-
efficiency anticipated
Toggle
arms
 Improving Energy Efficiency by Multi-Robot Coordination and Task
Scheduling (Saitou)

• Goal: Reduce total energy

consumption and peak
energy demands in multi-
robot cells
o Arm posture optimization to
minimize idle time energy
consumption
o Multi-robot coordination to
maximize the use of
regenerative energy from one
robot in other robots
o Task scheduling to reduce the
need of rapid acceleration
o Task scheduling to spread
energy peaks in multiple
robots across cycle time

Power profile of typical operation exhibiting multiple

energy peaks during cycle time (Duflou, et al, 2012)
Virtual Fusion for Robotic System Design, Evaluation
and Monitoring (Tilbury)
Seamlessly swap a virtual robot for real :
• Goal: Use high-fidelity Identical controls and networking interface
simulation models running in
parallel with physical system
to evaluate new system
designs
• Validate performance by
DeviceNet/ Ethernet
integration of simulated
systems with physical systems Evaluate new robotic concepts (e.g. Motoman
for material handling + assembly)
• Quickly evaluate multiple
scenarios for reconfigurability
• Operator training with high-
fidelity models
• Run high-fidelity simulation
models in parallel with
physical system for on-line
monitoring
Design for Improved Reliability and Efficiency (Ulsoy)
Experimental setup: (a) Quanser DC motor
• Goal: Design robots to be and controller, (b) worm gear transmission,
energy efficient, reliable and and (c) single link arm .
safe
• Passive-Assist Design
o For each joint motor, design
parallel and/or series spring for
passive assist (b)
o Typical trajectory and load (a)
o Optimize spring design (c)
• Single-Link Manipulator
o Experiments w/ and w/o spring 0.2
o Properly designed torsional spring Electrical Power [W] Model - No Spring
reduces max. torque by 50% and 0.15 Model - With Spring
energy consumption by up to 25% Experiment - No Spring
• Planned Extensions 0.1 Experiment - With Spring

o Robust design for family of

trajectories and loads 0.05
o Multi-link robot arm
o Co-design of robot and controller 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time, t [s]