BMFA 4223

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

EXERCISE QUESTIONS: INDUSTRIAL ROBOTICS

1. Explain the number of additional degrees of freedom of a robot that is mounted upon an
ordinary x-y table.

2. A robot performs a loading and unloading operation for a machine tool. The work cycle
consists of the following sequence of activities:

Sequence Activity Time (seconds)

1 Robot reaches and picks part from incoming conveyor and loads 5.5
into fixture on machine tool
2 Machining cycle (automatic) 33.0
3 Robot reaches in, retrieves part from machine tool, and deposits it 4.8
onto outgoing conveyor
4 Move back to pick-up position 1.7

The activities are performed sequentially as listed. Every 30 work-parts, the cutting tools in
the machine must be changed. This irregular cycle takes 3.0 minutes to accomplish. The
uptime efficiency of the robot is 97%, and the uptime efficiency of the machine tool I s98%,
not including interruptions for tool changes. These two efficiencies are assumed not to
overlap (i.e., if the robot breaks down, the cell will cease to operate, so the machine tool will
not have the opportunity to break down, and vice versa). Downtime results from electrical
and mechanical malfunctions of the robot, machine tool, and fixture.
Determine the hourly production rate, taking into account the lost time due to tool changes
and the uptime efficiency.
ANSWER: 67.06 pieces/hour

3. From problem (1), suppose that a double gripper is used instead of a single gripper as
indicated in that problem. The activities in the cycle would be changed as follows:

Sequence Activity Time (seconds)

1 Robot reaches and picks raw part from incoming conveyor in one 3.3
gripper, and awaits completion of machining cycle. This activity is
performed simultaneously with machining cycle
2 At completion of previous machining cycle, robot reaches in, 5.0
retrieves finished part from machine, loads raw part into fixture,
and moves a safe distance from machine
3 Machining cycle (automatic) 33.0
4 Robot moves to outgoing conveyor, and deposits part. This activity 3.0
is performed simultaneously with machining cycle
5 Robot moves back to pick-up position, this activity is performed 1.7
simultaneously with machining cycle

Steps 1, 4, and 5 are performed simultaneously with the automatic machining cycle. Steps 2
and 3 must be performed sequentially. The same tool change statistics and uptime
efficiencies are applicable.
Determine the hourly production rate when the double gripper is used, taking into account
the lost time due to tool changes and the uptime efficiency.
ANSWER: 77.77 pieces/hour

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 BMFA 4223
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

4. An industrial robot used for loading and unloading application of a CNC machine can be
equipped with either a single-handed or a dual gripper. The single-machine robotic cell
operates for an 8 hrs shift with 95% of system availability. The CNC machine takes 25 s on
average to process a part. The other robot operation time are shown in below:

Sequence Operation Time (s)

1 Robot pick up a part from the conveyor 4.0
2 Robot moves the part to the machine 1.4
3 Robot loads the part onto machine 1.0
4 Robot unloads the part from the machine 0.6
5 Robot moves to the conveyor 1.6
6 Robot puts the part on the outgoing conveyor 0.4
Robot moves from the output conveyor to the input
7 3.0
conveyor

Compute the percentage of productivity improvement of using a dual gripper over a single
gripper in the robotic cell.
ANSWER: 39.05 %

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