Robotics in today’s automotive manufacturing
entertainment, and navigation. Here, SCARAs are most commonly used to execute the precise material handling and assembly tasks to produce these systems. Cartesian robots have, at minimum, three linear axes that are stacked to execute motion in the X, Y and Z directions. In fact, some cartesian robots employed by Tier-2 automotive suppliers take the form of CNC machine tools, 3D printers, and coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) to verify the quality and consistency of end products. If counting these machines in the tally, cartesian robots are easily the industry’s most common form of industrial robot. As mentioned earlier though, cartesian machines are often only called robots when they are used for operations involving the manipulation of workpieces and not tools — in assembly, pick-and-place, and palletizing, for example. Another cartesian robot variation used in the automotive industry is the automated gantry crane.
extremely high accelerations, making them highly effective for pick-and-place operations in applications involving the sorting and other handling of small automotive fasteners and electrical components. Stewart platforms (also called hexapods) consist of a triangular base and triangular end effector connected by six linear actuators in an octahedron. This imparts six degrees of freedom with an extremely rigid structure. However, the range of motion is relatively limited in comparison to the size of the structure. Stewart platforms are used for motion simulation; mobile precision machining; crane motion compensation; and high- speed vibration compensation in precision physics and optics test routines … including those to verify vehicle suspension designs. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) follow set routes marked by lines painted on the floor, wires on the floor, or other guidance beacons. AGVs typically have a degree of intelligence so they stop and start to avoid collisions with each other and with humans. They are highly suitable for material-transport tasks in automotive-production facilities. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) don’t require fixed routes and are able to make more sophisticated decisions
New and novel robot uses in automotive manufacturing Cylindrical robots are compact and economical robots that give three-axis positioning with a revolute joint at the base and two linear axes for height and arm extensions. They are particularly well suited to machine tending, packing, and palletizing automobile subcomponents. Collaborative six-axis robots (cobots) mentioned earlier feature the same basic linkage structure as larger industrial variations, but with extremely compact and integrated motor-based drives at each joint … typically in the form of a gearmotor or direct- drive option. In automotive settings, these are tasked with welding brackets, mounts, and geometrically complicated subframes. Benefits include high precision and repeatability. Delta robots have three arms that are actuated via revolute joints from the base — often mounted to the ceiling for a suspended arrangement. Each arm has a parallelogram with universal joints mounted at its end, and these parallelograms all then connect to the end effector. This gives the delta robot three degrees of translational freedom with the end effector never rotating relative to the base. Delta robots can achieve
These are indispensable for fastening and joining
processes requiring access to the undercarriage of partially completed vehicle assemblages.
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