Design of production systems using computer modelling of human-robot interaction

Abstract

Designing a production system is a complex process that requires many factors to be taken into account, including the interaction between a human and a machine. The industrial robot is a specific type of a handling machine, which can work similarly to a human, and can be used in different areas in a factory. Therefore, there is a need to consider all important human and robotic factors early in the manufacturing process and industrial system design. Especially the computer simulation of the production processes with the use of Discrete Event Simulation method, carried out for the needs of a new project, allows us to already include the process flow at the industry system planning stage, before real implementation. The purpose of this work is developing a framework of a digital twin of a manufacturing system. An example of a newly designed manufacturing system for the production of elements from the automotive industry is presented, as well as simulation models developed in the FlexSim program, which enables predefined parametrized objects for humans and robots. An area requiring improvement was defined, and the possible effects of these actions on the overall process were reengineered, considering the parameters of availability, performance, quality, and failure rate that make up the OFE (Overall Factory Effectiveness) metric. The information obtained during the simulation allowed us to define the location of the bottleneck in the process, and thus determine what to focus on during the implementation of the manufacturing line. In the future, the models will be expanded in perspective of using the digital twin in Industry 4.0.