Field Of Factory Automation Research Articles

A Proposal of Template Matching Based on Pixel Selection for Constraint Rotated Patterns

Image matching technology is an important technology used for positioning and inspection of objects in the factory automation field. One of the most common recognition methods is template matching. However, this method requires matching a large number of templates in order to detect rotated objects in an image. Therefore, it has a problem of computation time. We propose to match only a small number of templates by assigning a rotation variation tolerance to the templates. The rotation variation tolerance is given by selecting pixels from the templates. We propose a new method of matching with only a few templates. Experimental results showed the method achieved a 91.9% recognition rate and a 288 msec processing time.

Signal-Limitation Filters to Simultaneously Satisfy Constraints of Velocity and Acceleration Signals

In this paper, we propose a filter structure whose output satisfies the velocity and acceleration constraints for any input signals. In the field of factory automation, step signals are sometimes c...

Looking Toward the Next Ten Years

As its first issue was published in 1989, the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics (JRM) has been in existence for 30 years. Its entrance into its fourth decade this year coincides with the change in the name of the Japanese era, marking a joyous milestone. During the three decades since the JRM was founded, much progress has been made in the areas covered by it, and these areas have expanded to encompass very diverse fields. It was around 1988, when I was at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), that I received a letter from Kazuo Yamafuji, later the first Editor-in-Chief of the editorial board, stressing the need for a journal such as the JRM. I gladly joined the committee to discuss its publication, and after attending a few meetings, I witnessed its successful launch. I served as the Deputy Editorin- Chief of the editorial board. Prior to that time, robots had mainly inhabited the world of science fiction and were not recognized as a technological subject within an academic discipline, except in the field of factory automation. The robots that did exist were usually thought of in a recreational context. Meanwhile, the general trend in academic and engineering disciplines was toward specialization and segmentation, with engineering splitting into mechanical, electronic, and other branches, each becoming progressively isolated from the others. Yet, those working in areas related to product development and manufacturing were expected not only to have knowledge of several engineering disciplines but also to integrate them in applying them. These engineers/technicians were treated as unoriginal emulators existing outside of the conventional systematized and specialized fields, and they were regarded as heretics with no suitable field to represent in making presentations at professional or academic conferences. Even if they hoped to publicize their research findings, there were no professional/academic journals that could provide a proper peer review. It was under these circumstances that the word “mechatronics” was coined in Japan, where it gained currency and also came to earn some recognition in the English-speaking world. Founded at just the right time, the JRM contributed to the spread and growth of mechatronics. Subsequently, the term came to denote, in addition to its original meaning of the integration of mechanics, electronics, and information science, the fusion of widely diverse technologies in human sciences, social sciences, and medicine. In this context, it is my ardent hope that the JRM, in its fourth decade, will increase its presence as a journal that remains unconstrained by conventional specialties and accepts papers and articles that deal with as-yet-unestablished areas that cross multiple fields, contributing to their dissemination. At the time the JRM was founded, Keiji Hayashi was president of Fuji Technology Press Ltd., the organization that annually presents the JRM Best Paper Award. Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 90 on March 19, 2017, before he could see the JRM’s 30th anniversary. Some time before he passed, he telephoned me to say that he hoped the JRM would continue to widely encompass and nurture as-yet-unknown areas. On this occasion of the 30th anniversary of the JRM, I wish to pay my respects and express my deep gratitude to Mr. Hayashi, who provided his own funds to support its publication. I pray that his soul may rest in peace, and I sincerely hope that the JRM continues to make great strides in the coming decade.Masanori Idesawa

Polling in the frequency domain: a new MAC protocol for industrial wireless network for factory automation

Wireless technologies are becoming more and more attractive for industrial communication. In the field of factory automation, the high communication requirements in terms of predictability, reliability and real-time make the adoption of wireless technologies challenging, due to the inefficiency of the wireless physical layer and deterministic medium access control MAC protocols. In this paper, a frequency domain polling MAC protocol FDP-MAC is proposed, which takes advantage of the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing OFDM technology to achieve simultaneously polling. In the FDP-MAC, a dynamic time division multiple access TDMA scheduling and a downlink acknowledgements aggregation method are also presented to improve the communication efficiency further. We validate the effectiveness of FDP-MAC through simulations, and results indicate that FDP-MAC can meet typical factory automation applications' communication requirements.

双腕ロボットの複雑なプレート操り動作における動的精度の研究

Nowadays, industrial dual-arm robots have gained attention as novel tools in the factory automation field for anext generation. We therefore focus on them to flexibly control both the linear motion and the rotational motion of a working plate. However, there has been one problem that it is difficult to measure the synchronous accuracy of two rotary axes without high accuracy gyro sensor. Thus, we proposed a novel method to measure the synchronous accuracy of two rotary axes of working plate with a ball, which keeps a ball rolling around a circular path on it by dual-arm cooperative control and demonstrated that a proposed method is effective to estimate its motion of frequency response. In present report, for widening the range of applications, we tried to keep a ball rolling around rhomboid path which is one of polygonal path on working plate by dual-arm cooperative control and to investigate its characteristic.

Control of Percussion Motion by Sound Feedback with a Humanoid Robot

Nowadays, there are the demands for application of a humanoid robot in factory automation field. There have been some reports dealing with assembling the mechanical parts. Among these, we focus on the control of percussion motion with a humanoid robot. In the present report, we propose a flexible rubber stick to control the high accurate percussion motion. To control multimodal behavior, we look at a feedback method using a sound at the percussion motion. An attempt with a humanoid robot is performed to hit the small glockenspiel with recording the sounds. We investigate the experimental results by observing the motion with a high-speed camera and a gyro sensor. As a result, it can be seen that the proposed method is effective to control the high accurate percussion motion under industrial noisy conditions.

Configuration of SoA-based devices in virtual production cells

The field of factory automation has been the target of many recent research efforts related to improving overall efficiency and reconfigurability in order to effectively enable the advent of mass customisation. These efforts have promoted the adoption of autonomous, loosely-coupled devices aimed at simplifying the integration of modular production cells, as well as new production control methodologies which aim to bring efficiency, agility and quick turnaround to the production process. As these new production paradigms start to trickle down to the factory floor, a new set of tools must be developed in order to support their implementation. Recent advances in computing power and functionality from the past decades have opened up the opportunity to not only improve the processing capabilities within control devices but to implement engineering tools which will support the systems engineers in building the modular production floor. This paper presents the development of such a tool which facilitates the implementation of said devices, and their functionalities which aim to simplify the configuration and layout of modular, service-oriented devices in a virtual production line. The tool can then be used as a simulation platform in order to test out different layouts and production processes.

레졸버 기반의 절대위치 검출 센서 드라이버의 FPGA 구현

Absolute position detector which is one of the major equipment in the field of factory automation, not only perceives the absolute position of the rotary machine but also outputs switch data according to the given angle. Absolute position detector is composed of sensor module and its controller. In this paper, a sensor driver is implemented using FPGA with VHDL. This chip has a less form factor than conventional circuit. A test shows reliable precision within THD(total harmonic distortion) of 0.2% which can be applicable commercially. Also, FPGA-based phase error compensation methods were newly discussed. In the future, more research will be conducted to enhance the precision by the introduction of 3-phase transformer.

Control system for the waterjet cutting Machine

This paper addresses the field of factory automation within the scope of machine control. It presents the control system for a waterjet cutting machine. It involves a PC based computer numerical control (CNC) controller that has been built on a QNX real-time (RT) operating system platform. Microsoft Windows, which is a commonly accepted graphical user interface environment, serves as a human machine interface (HMI) front-end. The CNC controller and the HMI are interconnected by the Ethernet TCP/IP link. The control system is flexible and modular. It supports CAD/CAM and a network link to the office-level of factory automation. The application is thoroughly presented with the highlight on RT features; the QNX RT operating system is analyzed in detail. Moreover, Ethernet TCP/IP technology for the use in a networked automated factory is also put in the foreground.