86477 - Industrial Robotics

Learning outcomes

Students learn the basic elements for modelling the kinematics, the statics and the dynamics of spatial articulated systems with both open (serial) and closed (parallel) architectures, which the current industrial robots is based on.

In addition, the students learn basic knowledge of criteria of use, motion planning, as well as economic and organizational aspects that are needed to integrate robots into production systems.

Course contents

The course is organized in the following main sections:

1. ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF ROBOTS (1 hour). Introduction. Origins. State of the art of Robotics. Classification of robots. Aim of industrial Robotics. Main issues of industrial robotics.
2. STRUCTURE AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC OF ROBOTS (4 hrs). Introduction. Structure of a robot. The manipulator. End effectors. Actuators. Sensors. Controller. Programming methods and languages. Main characteristics of an industrial robot.
3. COORDINATE TRANSFORMATION MATRICES (8 hrs). Introduction. Position and orientation of a rigid body and reference systems. Matrices for the transformation of the coordinates. Rotations and translations. Homogeneous transformations.
4. KINEMATICS OF MANIPULATORS (15 hrs). Introduction. Kinematic model of a manipulator. Matrices of Denavit-Hartenberg. Kinematic equations. Direct and inverse kinematic problem. Jacobian of a manipulator. Singularities.
5. STATICS OF MANIPULATORS (1 hr). Introduction. Analysis of forces and motion. Force and moments balancing.
6. DYNAMICS OF MANIPULATORS (13 hrs). Introduction. Recall of rigid body dynamics. Equation of motion. Direct and inverse dynamic problem.
7. PARALLEL MANIPULATORS (4 hrs). Direct and inverse kinematic analysis. Singularities. Kinetostatic and dynamic analyses.
8. TRAJECTORY PLANNING (2 hrs). Introduction. Generalities on the generation and description of the trajectory. Trajectory generation in joint and Cartesian space. Trajectory planning based on the dynamic model.
9. MANIPULATOR CONTROL (4 hrs). Introduction. Position control; Velocity control; Force control. Control systems of existing industrial robots.
10. MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS (2 hrs). Industrial robotics standards. Organization and automation impacts on production workers qualification. Management policies of computer-integrated manufacturing and robotics. Robot integration within manufacturing systems.
11. CRITERIA OF USE OF INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS (4 hrs). Robotic manufacturing cells. Reliability, maintenance, and safety of robots. CAD and graphic simulators /emulators of robotic systems. Precision and calibration.
12. AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONOF ROBOTS (2 hrs). Welding (Spot and Arc). Assembly. Machine Tending. Material Removal. Part Transfer. Painting, Coating and Sealing.

Problems and applications:

1. Inverse position analysis of PUMA
2. Position analysis of "6-6" parallel manipulator.
3. Elements of Dynamics
4. Dynamic analysis of a 2R spatial manipulator
5. Trajectory planning

Readings/Bibliography

Reference book

• Siciliano B., Sciavicco L., Villani L., Oriolo G., Robotics: Modelling, Planning and Control, Springer, 2009.

Suggested book

• Siciliano & Khatib eds., Handbook of Robotics, Springer, New York, 2008

In-depth readings

• Tsai L.W., Robot Analysis, The Mechanics of Serial and Parallel Manipulators, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
• Merlet J.P., Parallel robots. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000.
• Nof S.Y., Handbook of Industrial Robotics, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
• Engelberger J.F., Robotics in Practice: Management and applications of industrial robots, Avebury Publishing Company, 1980.
• Craig J., Introduction to Robotics, Mechanics and Control, 1989, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
• Erdman and Sandor, Analysis and Synthesis of Mechanisms, voll. 1 and 2, 1990, Prentice-Hall.
• Suh C.H. and Radcliffe C. W., Kinematics and Mechanisms Design, John Wiley & Sons, 1978.
• Sandler Ben-Zion, Robotics: Designing the Mechanisms for Automated Machinery, Academic Press, 1999.
• Rivin, E. I. Mechanical design of Robots, McGraw-Hill, 1988.

Teaching methods

The course includes:

1. Theoretical lectures conducted on the blackboard and with the aid of multimedia systems.
2. A complete cycle of exercises that combines and integrates theoretical lessons by developing applications using graphical and analytical tools.

Connection in videostreaming is available for students attending the lessons remotely.

Assessment methods

The assessment of student learning is carried out at the end of the course by a written test on the main topics of the course.

The written exam is based on one exercise and three theory questions.

The final score results from the arithmetic mean of the rates obtained in the four tests. The positive evaluation of at least two single tests is mandatory to consider the examination successfully passed.

Teaching tools

Slides are used as a partial support for the lesson presetations. The corresponding Pdf files and the course lecture notes are available at https://iol.unibo.it

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marco.troncossi

Office hours

See the website of Marco Troncossi

See the website of Vincenzo Parenti Castelli