UNIT V

IMPLEMENTATION AND ROBOT ECONOMICS

Prepared by
B.Balasubramanian
AP/MECH
CCET
 Syllabus
RGV, AGV; Implementation of Robots in
Industries – Various Steps; Safety Considerations
for Robot Operations; Economic Analysis of
Robots
Implementation of robots in Industries
The following are some of the considerations for robotics
planning
• General considerations
• Feasibility analysis
• Economic analysis
• Selecting a robot
• Selecting a vendor
• Preparing the site
• Get management approval for installation of robots
• Prepare manpower
 General
• Hostile environment
• Repetitive operation
• Heavy operation
• Multi-shift operation
• Cycle time
• Fatiguing and boring
 Feasibility analysis
• Is it possible to do the job with a robot?
• Is the job too complex?
• Is it possible to finish the job within a given cycle time?
• How many jobs can a robot handle at a time?
• How many sensors are to be integrated?
• Are the material feeding system adequate?
• Is the product design proper for robot manipulation?
• How is the integration plan of other peripheral equipment with the
robot?
• What inspection is required?
• Is the robotization possible with the assigned staff?
• Is it possible the desired product quality?
• Is it possible to maintain safety?
• Is it possible to ensure system reliability?
 Economic analysis
• Will the use of robots add value to the product?
• Will this decrease production cost?
• Can the inventory costs be reduced?
• Can the materials handling cost be reduced?
• Can robotization reduce lead time for the products?
• Are the results of economic analysis satisfactory for introducing
robots?
• What payback period should be assigned?
• What return on investment over the life of a robot should be
fixed?
• What should be the internal rate of return?
 Selecting a robot
To select the robot the following factors must be considered:

• Coordinate systems
• Degree of freedom
• Payload capacity
• Speed
• Accuracy
• Repeatability
• Sensors
• Interfaces to be integrated
• Programming languages
• Reliability as per makers guarantee
 Selecting a vendor
• Consult the robot experts
• Discuss with vendors
• Get quotations
 Preparing the site
The factors to be considered are:
• Type of work station
• Layout
• Materials handling system
• Part buffers
• Safety
Get management approval for
installation of robots
 Prepare manpower
• Prepare training program for operations and
maintenance
• Prepare robot program sheet
Safety considerations for robot operation

The robot may pose dangers to the human

operators during
• Programming of the robots
• Operating of the robots
• Maintenance of the robots
 Cont…
• The operator engaged in robot programming must take
precautions in testing the programs at lowest speed
and should use panic(stop) buttons in case of
emergency
• Properly ground the electrical cables and arrange
hydraulic or pneumatic lines in the proper way
• During maintenance, the power mains should be
switched off
• During operation, proper guards and helmets should
be used by the operators to avoid physical injury
 Economic analysis of robots
• Pay back Method
• EUAC Method
• Rate of Return Method
 Pay back method
• This method determines the pay-back period during which time the
net accumulated cash flow is equal to the total investment on the
robot.
• Assuming that the net annual cash flows are equal every year, pay
back is determined from the following formula
P = C / (L + V – R)
Where
P – payback period in year
C- total capital ( Investment) cost. Rs
L – cost of annual labour saved, Rs
V –added value of increased output, Rs
R – annual running costs of robot, Rs
 Rate of return method
• The robot is depreciated over its useful span of life
• The approximate life span of a robot is between 5 and 8 years
• Assuming straight line depreciation method, the total robot
investment (Capital) is depreciated evenly over the life of the robot
• If C is the investment cost and n is the life of the robot, yearly
depreciation is (C/n)
• If salvage value of robot is F, depreciation per year can be obtained
from (C-F/ n)
• Annual rate of return in % = {Net savings (income)/ Total
investment on robot} / 100
• Rate of return may be up to 50 %
 EUAC method
• Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost Method (EVAC)
• EUAC converts all the present and future investments in
to their equivalent uniform cash flows over the
anticipated life of the project
• So for all the investments and ash flows, the uniform
annual cost is found from the theory and practice of
engineering economy
• If the EUAC of the project is greater than the minimum
attractive rate of return (MARR), the project is viable
• If the EUAC is less than zero, the project is unattractive