Collaborative robots in assembly operations: Engine assembly

Manufacturers have noticed that being competitive in manufacturing industry requires ability to adapt production according to changing market situations. Therefore, manufacturing systems have to be flexible. Human employees represent flexibility but high labour costs and the manufacturers’ high productivity targets are not the most ideal combination. Also nowadays young employees do not find manual work very meaningful. However, traditional industrial robots are not the most suitable choice if aiming at flexible production. Traditional industrial robots are still not the most suitable way of automating the production in a flexible way. Utilizing inherently safe small robots that have recently entered in the market could be a better option instead. Over the last few years the collaborative robot market has expanded and they are predicted to be future's gamechangers in industrial robotics. Collaborative robots are designed to be able to cooperate with a human. Due to that the safety of the people shall be taken into account carefully and according to the law when designing an application including them. Traditionally industrial robots have been caged for ensuring people’s safety. When considering utilizing collaborative robots the aim is often to get rid of the fences and create a shared workspace for the robot and a human operator. That causes new challenges for safety planning. Collaborative robot manufacturers have already developed some solutions for that. The available standards are currentlynot taking the characteristics of the collaborative robots into account precisely enough. However, integrators have found the ways to comply with the safety requirements of current standards related to industrial robotics. Several human-robot collaboration applications already exist around the world. Research in the area of collaborative robotics is active. The objective of this thesis was to find ways of utilizing collaborative robots in engine assembly. After studying the existing technological solutions and relevant safety aspects, alternatives for a first human-robot collaboration application on the new assembly line were discovered. Inspection of the existing applications in research or industrial use were useful when searching for potential application options. On the particular hybrid assembly line several alternatives were found. They were compared with each other with the help of a decision matrix customized to be suitable for the comparison. Eventually, the most potential application to be implemented was chosen and the initial plan about it was made. The plan was visualized in a CAD modelling software and with the help of the 3D model the dimensions and the working areas of the application were examined. The 3D model was also used for formulating the initial risk assessment and identifying the possible hazards