Robotic Window Assembly : A Simulation Study and a Proposed Self-Adaptive Software Architecture

The key driving factors in using humans and robots in collaborativeapplications for assembly processes are to reduce assembly time, cost and toimprove the human working environment from an ergonomic viewpoint. Currently,there are limited automated procedures in assembly operations in house constructionbecause the traditional type of assembly process depends entirely on manpower.This is common in the assembly process in different industries since assembly isone of the most demanding and intense manufacturing processes, and it is difficultto automate. This paper presents a case study on the implementation of human-robotcollaboration for window assembly by way of an offline robot programmingsimulation. A self-adaptive software architecture that runs on a real-time targetmachine is also proposed for robotic window assembly. The window assemblymethod that will be used in this study is called “Click-In” and is manufactured byFixture System Sweden AB. Apart from robot simulations, detailed suggestions aregiven for building a pilot cell for robot window assembly. The case study presentedin this paper has both economical and ergonomic goals. The economic goal is toreduce the assembly time which will lead to an increase in window production. Byintroducing human-robot collaboration, operators do not need to performuncomfortable assembly operations—rather the robot will perform these unergonomic operations. The feasibility of both goals is verified with offline robotprogramming simulation.