Palletizing Robot Research Articles

Development and Application of Simulation Control System of Logistics Palletizing Robot Manipulator

Loading and unloading and handling is one of the important parts of logistics. It often occurs in the logistics system, which connects all links in the production process and plays a very important role. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development and application of the simulation control system of the logistics palletizing robot manipulator. According to the control requirements and functions of the control system, the control system is planned, the PLC control mode and PLC model are selected, the communication system is set, and the I / 0 interface is allocated. The arm parallel mechanism is selected to be in a relatively dangerous position. The control system of the small arm and the rear arm of the palletizing robot is designed. The function modules in the PLC program have achieved the expected purpose. On the premise that the strength and stiffness of the two key components meet the design requirements, the weight of the two key components is reduced by 50% and 10kg respectively. The optimization effect is obvious, which is conducive to improving the structural performance of the palletizing robot, saving materials and reducing production costs.

Dynamic Modeling and Error Analysis of a Cable-Linkage Serial-Parallel Palletizing Robot

The efficiency and accuracy for parallel robot play a significant role in the industrial production process. In order to further improve the motion performance of parallel robot, this paper focuses on the study of mechanism design, dynamic modeling and error analysis of a cable-linkage serial-parallel palletizing robot (CSPR). Firstly, the CSPR is designed as a series-parallel hybrid mechanism driven by flexible cables, which can effectively reduce the inertia and improve the dynamic response. As is known that kinematic design optimization of compliant mechanisms requires accurate yet efficient mathematical models, the kinematics and dynamic models are established by the homogeneous coordinate transformation method and Lagrange equation. Based on the dynamic mathematical model of the robot, a variety of sensors are chosen to construct the hardware control system and the sliding mode variable structure control strategy is also designed based on motion errors. Then, the motion performance and load carrying capacity of the CSPR were analyzed and compared in different operating conditions respectively, and the results verify the validity and efficiency of the mechanism.

Higher order block heuristics for 2D pallet loading problems with multiple box inputs

Pallet Loading Problem (PLP) is an important area of study in Industrial Engineering, as it is used for applications like Robotic Palletizing, Sheet metal cutting etc. The important objective of the PLP is to arrange the given input box types within the given Pallet area, to give the least wastage area in the pallet. The Pallet loading problem is differentiated as Manufacturer’s Pallet Loading Problem (MPLP) and Distributer’s Pallet loading problem (DPLP) based on the number of input types for arrangement. Among the various methods to solve this class of problems, Block Heuristics is the most widely used procedure. This objective of this study to overcome the limitation in the existing procedures in the class of cutting stock problems and Pallet Loading problem (PLP) with multiple input box types, where the maximum allowable number of input box types is 4. In the existing Block Heuristics procedures for multiple box input types, there is a constraint that a single block in Block Heuristics should contain boxes of same type. The work explains how different box types can be arrangement within a single block, thus overcoming the maximum number of input box limitation. Some of the new box arrangement structures, which are unique for the multiple box input scenario, are introduced and explained on how they are implemented in Non Guillotine block Heuristics. It also includes the extension of the higher order block heuristics from single box input case to the multiple box input scenarios. In general, higher order represents the usage of more than four Non Guillotine cuts in the heuristics and throughout the work on higher order block heuristics in this paper, the number of Non-guillotine cuts used to form the Block heuristics will be 6, hence termed as second order Non Guillotine Block Heuristics. Using a Literature Pallet Loading Problem input, both first and second order Non Guillotine Block Heuristics are tested and compared and their advantages over each other are presented.

Classic or fully automated technology lines?

In this paper we compared a classic technological lines and a fully automated line for the manufacturing of 100% cotton yarns. For this comparison we analyzed the complexity of classical and fully automated technological lines, the differences between the yarn structures, aspects related to the quality of textile yarns but also an analysis of production costs and benefits. The spinning mill is the first sector in the textile field, the sector in which the textile yarns are made. The quality of textile products, fabrics, knits, garments or technical articles are strictly dependent of the quality of textile yarns. The yarns are made of short fibres of cotton, wool, linen, hemp or other raw materials, with a great unevenness of the physical-mechanical characteristics, and the technological engineer must make a series of adjustments, settings of the machines so that the yarns made have a lower unevenness. This is the reason why the technological engineer must set the technological process so that the yarns are of adequate quality, have low production costs and deliver orders to the beneficiaries within the terms established by the commercial contracts concluded with them. In order to decrease the production costs, there were permanent concerns for the introduction of new automation elements, so that in the field of cotton spinning reached an extremely high level, right at the fully automated cotton spinning mill. Practical, on the technological line there are only two operators, one that supplies the technological line and one that transfers pallets with bobbins from the palletizing robot to the transport means. Practically the technological lines are composed of the same machines, but the automation elements on each machine and the aggregation systems between machines allow the almost complete elimination of the operators for service of machines. Given the complexity of the technological lines and the difference between the human resources for the two technological lines, in the first step we made a comparative calculation of the costs for the salaries of the operators and the taxes that an employer must pay. Then we made a comparative calculation of energy consumption. The comparative analysis was done for a cotton spinning mill with a production of 4000 t/year, classical yarn, 100% cotton yarn, with average fineness Nm40, made on ring spinning machines. Finally, we made a comparative study of the investment effort and the amortization of the investments made, amortizations which is reflected in the total costs and then in the delivery price of the yarns to the beneficiaries.

Research on Staggered Stacking Pattern Algorithm for Port Stacking Robot

Li, P., 2020. Research on staggered stacking pattern algorithm for port stacking robot. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 199-201. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN0749-0208.Industrial production and handling of robotic palletizing is playing an increasingly important role in palletizing operations, playing an important role in improving production efficiency, reducing costs and liberating labor. For products of various sizes, it is a hot research topic and an urgent problem to efficiently and quickly plan out the optimal stacking pattern. In this paper, an economical palletizing robot with freedom degree is designed. The palletizing robot's staggered stacking algorithm is used to plan the layout of pallets and goods of any size. Considering the position selection of the code box from the angle of the difficulty of taking the box, setting up a stacking degree function to measure the difficulty of taking the box and considering the compact degree of stacking, etc., an optimization model of the code box is established. Experiments show that the topic of this paper can greatly improve the efficiency of robot palletizing.

AdaptPack studio translator: translating offline programming to real palletizing robots

PurposeThis paper aims to propose a translation library capable of generating robots proprietary code after their offline programming has been performed in a software application, named AdaptPack Studio, running over a robot simulation and offline programming software package.Design/methodology/approachThe translation library, named AdaptPack Studio Translator, is capable to generate proprietary code for the Asea Brown Boveri, FANUC, Keller und Knappich Augsburg and Yaskawa Motoman robot brands, after their offline programming has been performed in the AdaptPack Studio application.FindingsSimulation and real tests were performed showing an improvement in the creation, operation, modularity and flexibility of new robotic palletizing systems. In particular, it was verified that the time needed to perform these tasks significantly decreased.Practical implicationsThe design and setup of robotics palletizing systems are facilitated by an intuitive offline programming system and by a simple export command to the real robot, independent of its brand. In this way, industrial solutions can be developed faster, in this way, making companies more competitive.Originality/valueThe effort to build a robotic palletizing system is reduced by an intuitive offline programming system (AdaptPack Studio) and the capability to export command to the real robot using the AdaptPack Studio Translator. As a result, companies have an increase in competitiveness with a fast design framework. Furthermore, and to the best of the author’s knowledge, there is also no scientific publication formalizing and describing how to build the translators for industrial robot simulation and offline programming software packages, being this a pioneer publication in this area.

AdaptPack Studio: an automated intelligent framework for offline factory programming

PurposeThis paper aims to propose an automated framework for agile development and simulation of robotic palletizing cells. An automatic offline programming tool, for a variety of robot brands, is also introduced.Design/methodology/approachThis framework, named AdaptPack Studio, offers a custom-built library to assemble virtual models of palletizing cells, quick connect these models by drag and drop, and perform offline programming of robots and factory equipment in short steps.FindingsSimulation and real tests performed showed an improvement in the design, development and operation of robotic palletizing systems. The AdaptPack Studio software was tested and evaluated in a pure simulation case and in a real-world scenario. Results have shown to be concise and accurate, with minor model displacement inaccuracies because of differences between the virtual and real models.Research limitations/implicationsAn intuitive drag and drop layout modeling accelerates the design and setup of robotic palletizing cells and automatic offline generation of robot programs. Furthermore, A* based algorithms generate collision-free trajectories, discretized both in the robot joints space and in the Cartesian space. As a consequence, industrial solutions are available for production in record time, increasing the competitiveness of companies using this tool.Originality/valueThe AdaptPack Studio framework includes, on a single package, the possibility to program, simulate and generate the robot code for four different brands of robots. Furthermore, the application is tailored for palletizing applications and specifically includes the components (Building Blocks) of a particular company, which allows a very fast development of new solutions. Furthermore, with the inclusion of the Trajectory Planner, it is possible to automatically develop robot trajectories without collisions.

Improvement of Palletizing Robot’s Clamp Device for Cigarette Products

In order to reduce the drop number of cigarette packing cases and downtime during the robot palletizing, and improve palletizing efficiency, the key technology of the robot’s clamp device was improved. The improvement techniques included vacuum suction cups specification optimizing, suction cups horizontal and vertical balancing layout, robot running smoothly, increasing the intake pipe, multi-loop vacuum generator. These techniques were applied to KUKA KR150L 150/3 robot, tested on normal and circular cigarette packing cases such as Yuxi (Hard Harmony)brand produced by Yuxi cigarette factory. The results showed that the improvement of robot palletizing cigarette packing cases is stable, and the average drop number is reduced to 13/month from 123/month before improvement, the number of downtime is reduced to 14 times/month from 125 times/month, the equipment efficiency is improved to 9.6/min. The improvement can provide technical support for the stable operation of the robot palletizing cigarette cases.

Dynamic Modelling and Motion Controller Design for Industrial Palletizing Robot and Collision Detection

The 4-DOF parallelogram industrial palletizing robot is taken as the object of study. This paper designs and develops the real-time industrial controller based on the IPC and high-way EtherCAT fieldbus. What’s more, the control algorithm and structure based on the dynamic feedforward contributes to the compensation of robot dynamics in theory. Experiments on the task switching and master delay show that this control system has a good real time response quality. Based on the kinematics analysis of robot parallelogram structure, this paper builds the robot dynamic model. To increase the computing speed and ensure the real-time performance, the model has been simplied and proved to be effective by simulation contrast verification.

Real-time Planning Robotic Palletizing Tasks using Reusable Roadmaps

This paper focuses on robotic motion planning for performing the palletizing or de-palletizing tasks. In such tasks, a robot usually iterates similar pick-and-place for several times. Considering such feature of the tasks, we propose two motion planning approaches named reusable Probabilistic Roadmap Method (PRM) and reusable Rapidly-exploring Random Tree Star (RRT*) where both methods utilize the previously constructed roadmaps in the conventional PRM and RRT*, respectively. We experimentally confirm that both methods significantly save the calculation time needed for motion planning compared to the conventional planning methods.

Real-time Planning Robotic Palletizing Tasks using Reusable Roadmaps

Real-time Planning Robotic Palletizing Tasks using Reusable Roadmaps

Design of a New Type of Hybrid Heavy Load Palletizing Robot

In the field of heavy-duty palletizing robot, the mature products in the market mostly adopt series mechanism, which has the disadvantages of long arm of each joint, large driving force and high cost. Although the robot with parallel mechanism does not have the above problems, its application is restricted due to its small working space. In this paper, a new type of hybrid mechanism has been designed. We analyzed the kinematic characteristics of the mechanism, used MATLAB to simulate the workspace and kinematics, and proved that it is suitable for heavy load palletizing.

Design and Dimensional Optimization of a Controllable Metamorphic Palletizing Robot

The controllable metamorphic mechanisms offer the advantages of adjustable mechanisms and multiple configurations. Most of these mechanisms are not yet applied in industry. To achieve the dimension calculation method for engineering applications as well as the effective and functional industrial prototype of these mechanisms, firstly, this paper designed a controllable metamorphic palletizing robot which can have 2-degrees-of-freedom (2-DOF) and single-DOF configurations. Further, this robot mechanism was studied using workspace analysis. The evaluation of its kinematic performance in workspace was presented. On this basis, a dimensional optimization method for metamorphic mechanisms based on workspace discretization was developed. The optimal workspace and corresponding dimensional parameters of this robot mechanism were obtained by this method and verified by the conventional calculation approach. A physical prototype of the robot was manufactured using optimized dimensional parameters and the feasibility as well as the practicality of its scheme was demonstrated.

Frequency response analysis of heavy-load palletizing robot considering elastic deformation.

For the palletizing robot's operating characteristics of high speed, high acceleration, and heavy load, it is necessary to make a research on the structure optimization focusing on the vibration characteristics according to the mechanical and dynamic performance analysis. This article first introduces the mechanical feature and working principle of high-speed and heavy-load robot palletizer. Kinematics analysis is carried out by using D-H parameter method, which obtains positive kinematics solution and workspace. Jacobian matrix is deduced, and the relationship between joint space and Cartesian space is established. Second, for the reason that joint flexibility has a great influence on the vibration performance of the robot, a rigid-flexible coupling dynamic model is established based on the simplified model of the flexible reducer and Lagrange's second equation to describe the joint flexibility of high-speed and heavy-load palletizing robot, and the vibration modes of the robot are analyzed. The influence of different joint stiffness on the frequency response of the system reveals the inherent properties of the heavy-load palletizing robot, which provides a theoretical basis for the optimal design and control of the heavy-load palletizing robot.

Research on Bearing Stress Characteristics of Stacking Robot Base under New Engineering Background

Under the background of the continuous development of new engineering, more and more researches are aiming at new cutting-edge technologies, among which industrial robots have attracted much attention. Based on typical trajectory and a given load condition of the palletizing robot, the dynamics analysis and calculation was accomplished by using the dynamics analysis and calculation module of Adams software under the condition that the palletizing robot was working normally, then obtained the dynamic load variation when rolling bearing was running, furthermore, the contact stress change rule was obtained by using the finite element analysis calculation method, and the rule was regard as the basis of rolling bearing fatigue life analysis and evaluation. Judging from the results of analysis and calculation, the contact stress distribution of rolling bearing under the combined effect of both external load and dynamic load, which was similar to the phenomenon of commonly used rolling bearing stress fatigue destruction, this method can effectively overcome the deficiencies of traditional rolling bearing fatigue life calculation method that only consider static load, and reference for relevant engineering and technical personnel.

Usage Identification of Anomaly Detection in an Industrial Context

AbstractThe use of flexible and autonomous robotics systems is the solution for the automation task of the production and intra-logistics environments. This dynamic context requires the robot to be aware of its surroundings through the whole task, also after accomplishing the gripping action. We present an anomaly detection approach based on unsupervised learning and reconstruction fidelity of image data. We design our method to enhance the dynamic environment perception of robotics systems and apply it in a palletizing robot, in order to perceive and detect changes to its surrounding and process after the gripping step. Our proposed approach achieves the performance targeted by the considered industrial requirements.

Numerical Simulation of Weak Parts of Main Components of Heavy-Duty Precision Brick Palletizing Robot

In order to improve the efficiency and quality of brick-making, a heavy-duty jointed brick-stacking robot is developed. According to the work requirements, the robot has a large number of grasping blanks at a time, which takes a large load and increases the deformation of work pieces. Through the analysis of the deformation of main parts, the weak parts was found and the deformation was further reduced, as a result, the whole structure is optimized to reduce scraping bricks gripper positioning deviation and improve the working accuracy.

Algorithm for the static balancing of serial and parallel mechanisms combining counterweights and springs: Generation, assessment and ranking of effective design variants

Static balancing through passive devices is a suitable strategy to reduce motor loads for numerous applications in the automation and robotics fields. Many known methods require initially defining which balancing elements to install, thus possibly limiting the compensation effectiveness, since potentially optimal solutions may be neglected. This work presents an approach to statically balance linkages characterized by open and/or closed kinematic chains. The proposed algorithm searches for possible balanced variants of the mechanism that can be arranged by installing combinations of counterweights and springs, without auxiliary linkages. If solutions are found, the corresponding balancing parameters are tuned for optimizing the mechanism energy consumption, by considering the mechanism dynamics when performing its operational tasks. Actual benefits and drawbacks of the variants are assessed through quantitative criteria. The corresponding performance indicators are proposed as a guideline for designers to identify the most convenient balancing solutions. The implemented procedure is general and suitable to study any mechanism admitting closed-form solutions for its forward kinematics. A case study concerning an industrial palletizing robot is reported as an example of application. Overload issues affecting the robot actuators are solved through gravity compensation. The results achieved for the industrial problem prove the procedure effectiveness.

Minimum Energy Trajectory Optimization for Driving Systems of Palletizing Robot Joints

Palletizing robot is widely used in logistics operation. At present, people pay attention to not only the loading capacity and working efficiency of palletizing robots, but also the energy consumption in their working process. This paper takes MD1200-YJ palletizing robot as the research object and studies the problem of low energy consumption optimization of joint driving system from the perspective of trajectory optimization. Firstly, a multifactor dynamic model of palletizing robot is established based on the conventional inverse rigid body dynamic model of the robot, the Stribeck friction model and the spring balance torque model. And then based on joint torque, friction torque, motion parameter, and joule’s law, the useful work model, thermal loss model of joint motor, friction energy consumption model of joint system, and total energy consumption model of palletizing robot are established, and through simulation and experiment, the correctness of the multifactor dynamic model and energy consumption model is verified. Secondly, based on the Fourier series approximation method to construct the joint trajectory expression, the minimum total energy consumption as the optimization objective, with coefficients of Fourier series as optimization variables, the motion parameters of initial and final position, and running time constant as constraint conditions, the genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem. Finally, through the simulation analysis the optimized Fourier series motion law and the 3-4-5 polynomial motion law are comprehensively evaluated to verify the effectiveness of the optimization method. Moreover, it provides the theoretical basis for the follow-up research and points out the direction of improvement.

Size recognition and adaptive grasping using an integration of actuating and sensing soft pneumatic gripper

Due to less appropriate sensors for representing the pose of soft robotic hand, the soft robotic hand usually works in an open loop control system. In this paper, only two simple sensors were used in a soft pneumatic gripper (SPG) control system to make it possess innervated-like ability. The control system was conducted with only two sensors, air pressure sensor and bending sensor where the air pressure sensor is able to detect grasping force and the bending sensor is able to detect grasping position The bending sensor was characterized by testing on pressure vs. bending and bending vs. size relationships. The principle of circular-shaped object size recognition was presented in Algorithm 1. Multi-group tests had been done on grasping different size and material objects, and test results had a strong effect on size recognition ability of the SPG. Finally, adaptive grasping control process was presented in Algorithm 2. The tests on grasping the same size objects had been done. The test results demonstrate that the SPG is able to maintain stable grasping state for a long time based on size recognition ability no matter what material the object is. At the same time, it had no effect on the grasping state at the time of existing disturbance, which had been verified by four different disturbance tests. The SPG will benefit the development of soft robotics field in picking and sorting fruits and vegetables, and an application of the SPG affixed on the home-made palletizing robot was described and conducted at last.