Mobile robots for flexible manufacturing systems

Wijck, H. van (2017) Mobile robots for flexible manufacturing systems. Bachelor's Thesis, Industrial Engineering and Management.

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Abstract

Flexibility is a key element needed in manufacturing systems for them to be able to compete with other factories. In fact, customer’s demands are changing towards more customized preferences, which makes it even more difficult for factories to keep their customers happy. One of the key technologies to realize such flexibility is the mobile robot technology, which is the subject of this research work. Three main variables that determine the flexibility in the integration of mobile robots in manufacturing systems are workstations, robots and computer control. This research focuses on the last variable, computer control. Python and Robot Operating System are used to design a control architecture for the mobile robot. This architecture, which takes the form of a finite state machine, is composed of order processing, navigation of the mobile base, correction of the exact position of the mobile base and operations to pick up and place a product. The mobile base in this research is composed of the Nexus Omni Wheel robot and the AX-18A Smart Robotic Arm. The proposed control architecture has been implemented and tested using the aforementioned robotic setup. Preliminary results show that mobile robots with the proposed control architecture are able to provide flexibility in a simple manufacturing system. Results show that correcting the exact position of the mobile robot is the problem area of the designed control architecture.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Degree programme:	Industrial Engineering and Management
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2018 08:28
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2018 08:28
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/15227

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