Investigation on Resting Orientation of Components Dropped from Different Heights

Abstract

Part feeders are a critical part of an automated assembly system. Vibratory feeders which use vibration to feed material are the most used in industries. The feeders move the components to the required destination and drop them from a height. The feeders are expected to deliver the components at a specific rate and at a preferred orientation which changes with the component design and requirements. For designing a feeder system, certain parameters such as component size, configuration, the complexity of the component, and natural resting orientation of the component are to be known. The component's most probable natural resting orientation is to be determined theoretically and is to be known while designing a feeder. In this paper, the most probable natural resting orientation of two different components of the LEGO robot was analyzed using the theoretical stability method, and the results were compared with the experimental drop test results. The analysis is done based on the probability of occurrences of different orientations of the components, and a comparison is made between the theoretical stability method and the experimental drop test using the testing of the hypothesis. It was concluded that the experimental and theoretical results showed a good relation in the case of component-1, while the results from component-2 proved the theoretical conclusions to be insufficient to determine the most probable resting orientation of the component.