Abstract
Traditional robotic work cell design and programming are considered inefficient and outdated in current industrial and market demands. In this research, virtual reality (VR) technology is used to improve human-robot interface, whereby complicated commands or programming knowledge is not required. The proposed solution, known as VR-based Programming of a Robotic Work Cell (VR-Rocell), consists of two sub-programmes, which are VR-Robotic Work Cell Layout (VR-RoWL) and VR-based Robot Teaching System (VR-RoT). VR-RoWL is developed to assign the layout design for an industrial robotic work cell, whereby VR-RoT is developed to overcome safety issues and lack of trained personnel in robot programming. Simple and user-friendly interfaces are designed for inexperienced users to generate robot commands without damaging the robot or interrupting the production line. The user is able to attempt numerous times to attain an optimum solution. A case study is conducted in the Robotics Laboratory to assemble an electronics casing and it is found that the output models are compatible with commercial software without loss of information. Furthermore, the generated KUKA commands are workable when loaded into a commercial simulator. The operation of the actual robotic work cell shows that the errors may be due to the dynamics of the KUKA robot rather than the accuracy of the generated programme. Therefore, it is concluded that the virtual reality based solution approach can be implemented in an industrial robotic work cell.
Highlights
According to a survey from the UN Economic Commission for Europe published in ‘‘World Robotics 2001’’ [1], there were approximately 750,000 robots running in industries worldwide
The statistics, market analysis, forecasts, case studies and profitability of robot investment published by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in ‘‘World Robotics 2011’’ [2] revealed that the annual robot sales in 2010 was 118,337 units
A case study is conducted at the Robotics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya
Summary
According to a survey from the UN Economic Commission for Europe published in ‘‘World Robotics 2001’’ [1], there were approximately 750,000 robots running in industries worldwide. The statistics, market analysis, forecasts, case studies and profitability of robot investment published by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in ‘‘World Robotics 2011’’ [2] revealed that the annual robot sales in 2010 was 118,337 units. The sale for robots in 2010 was US$ 5.7 billion. Over 1,300 labours were struck by moving objects in their workplace. This appears to be the most common accident which causes injuries, which is due to the complexity of hardware and software. In Sweden and Japan [3], these incidents have been associated with robot operations, such as malfunction to stop, rapid motion of the robot arm, injuries in the workspace during repair and maintenance, illegal entrance to the workspace as well as unpredictable robot work functions to the operator
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