Autonomous assembly and disassembly by cognition using hybrid assembly cells

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Uwe Frieß - , Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (Author)
  • Lena Oberfichtner - , Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (Author)
  • Arvid Hellmich - , Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (Author)
  • Rayk Fritzsche - , Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology (Author)
  • Steffen Ihlenfeldt - , Chair of Machine Tools Development and Adaptive Controls, Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology, TUD Dresden University of Technology (Author)

Abstract

Current political, economic, and ecological developments put severe pressure on European industries. Significant value chains depend uniliterally on single suppliers for many industrial resources including, raw materials, semi-finished goods as well as whole components. At the very same time, the European industry needs to get carbon neutral within an unprecedented short time frame. To address these challenges, flexibility, adaptivity[...], and resilience based on adaptive assembly and disassembly systems acting autonomously are key. Existing systems lack crucial capabilities as they focus on output volumes and economic criteria excluding part variance. Furthermore, these systems are unsuitable for small and medium batches due to the necessary investment. The paper presents a novel concept for hybrid-autonomous assembly and disassembly systems based on robot cells added to manual stations. A batch-individual allocation of sub-tasks to the autonomous robot-based system and the manual assembly on-site will lead to maximum flexibility while utilising the advantages of both.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)381-398
Number of pages18
JournalInternational Journal of Mechatronics and Manufacturing Systems
Volume16
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Peer-reviewedYes

Keywords

Keywords

  • autonomous assembly, autonomous disassembly, cognition, human-in-the-loop, intelligent robotics, machine learning, mathematical optimisation