• The library has an excellent selection of journals, reference books, trade magazines, and textbooks. (Other local libraries could also be used)

• Using workstations, or IBM PCs equipped with mosaic software, run the software, and open the files below.

• Telnet allows free connection to sites, and is available on all UNIX machines

AWS Caucus (amweld.org), Sponsored by the American Welding Society. Topic; Flux-cored-arc-welding, ISO9000, technical help, certification, a database of Welding Journal articles.

FEDWORLD (fedworld.gov) Sponsored by National Technical Information Service. Gateway to over 130 government bbs’

TMS Online (online.tms.org), Sponsored by The Minerals, Metals, Materials Society. Has conference proceedings, announcements, calendar. (see telnet above)

• A list of Bulletin boards, etc. are given below for phoneup access to information (Note: you will at least pay long distance for these, and possibly user charges also)

AWS Caucus (800) 447-9915, 9600 baud (see telnet above), Sponsored by the American Welding Society. Topic; Flux-cored-arc-welding, ISO9000, technical help, certification, a database of Welding Journal articles.

Business Gold--NTTC Online (304)243-2560, 9600baud 7bit, Even parity, 1 stop, Sponsored by the National Technology Transfer Center. Access to the directory of federal laboratories, federal technology available for licencing, and small business innovative research solicitations. Current technology transfer news, events calendar, and publications list.

Computer Plumber BBS (319)337-6723, 19,200 baud. Devoted to engineers who work with industrial applications of computers. Shareware files. System operator maintains extensive bbs list.

The Depot BBS (717)853-3599, 14.4 kbaud. Extensive collection of CAD, CAM, and CAE related shareware and discussion groups (conferences).

Digital X-Connect BBS (214)517-8443 9600 baud. General information of interest to engineers, technicians, and technical managers. Free on-line resume service and job postings.

EBB--Economic Bulletin Board (202)482-2584, 9600 baud, $45 annual subscription fee and per minute charges. Operated by US department of commerce. topics: economic data, export leads, and market research, press releases from various US government agencies.

FEDWORLD (703)321-8020, 9600 baud, Sponsored by National Technical Information Service. Gateway to over 130 government bbs’. (see telnet above)

Finishing TEchnology Hotline (201)838-0113, 2400 baud, Sponsored by Metal Finishing magazine, Topics: painting, anodizing, pickling, powder coating, commercials suppliers, etc.

HMIX BBS Hazardous Materials Information Exchange (708)972-3275, 9600 baud. Topics: material lists, instructional material, laws, regulations, US govt. contacts.

Industrial Forum (209)267-9379, 14.4 kbaud, Sponsored by CCI Training Services. Topics: surface preparation, painting, coating, paper and pulp mills, pipelines and tanks, inspection and quality control, environmental control, govt regulations.

MatChat BBS (510)655-1753, 14.4 kbaud. A materials oriented bulletin board system.

MechEng (ASME) (608)233-3378, 9600 baud Basically a very wide range of discussion topics, and software for IBM PCs and MacIntoshes.

MIC-NET (Manufacturing and Inventory Control Network) (719) 687-7222, 28kbaud, Software: MRP, Inventory control, mechanical engineering, TQM, SPC.

SME On-Line (313)271-3424, 14.4 kbaud. Manufacturing related freeware and shareware, discussion groups, etc.

Statistics BBS (316)687-0578, 9600 baud, Topics: reliability, quality, experiment design, SPC, industrial statistics.

TMS Online (412)776-2040, 2400 baud, Sponsored by The Minerals, Metals, Materials Society. Has conference proceedings, announcements, calendar. (see telnet above)

• Contact equipment manufacturers, they might help you, or even provide technical details.

• Contact manufacturers that use the process, their production engineers may be able to help.

sunsite.unc.ca: a site sponsored by Sun Microsystems, with a good selection of software for all platforms

A commercial product will be selected (the chosen product must be approved by the course instructor) by a team of students (4 is reasonable). The project will be an existing product that is disassembled, and examined. In detail, all methods for automated production will be suggested, including some changes to the product to make it easier to manufacture. After this is complete, a manufacturing facility will be proposed by the team, including equipment selection, layout, connections, estimates for cycle time, testing/inspection, etc.

The form of the case study will be left up to the students, and the evaluation will be based on a final report, and a presentation. Creativity and completeness are a must, mediocre work will receive mediocre marks. Detailed drawings, specific equipment to be ordered, reasons and justification for the design are some of the elements required.

This section will allow for students to gain NEW exposure to some aspect of manufacturing technology. The projects should be related to some aspect of automated manufacturing. The list of topics below suggests some possible ideas,

The nature of this project is arbitrary, and any topic suggested should be discussed with the course instructor, and a short (1 paragraph) description should be given to the course instructor for the benefit of the student. The project will culminate with a report, and presentation, and demonstrations where applicable.

Special Notes: Students are expected to declare their intentions by Sept., 23, 1993. This includes topics, teams, and a tentative deadline schedule. The outline should be less than1page. (no marks are assigned for this)

NOTE: Any deviations from the project details printed here are the full responsibilities of the students.

Ahmed Nensey Description: A mechanism will be designed and built for orienting spherical balls with small through holes. This will be done with a mechanism that uses three rollers for orientation, and an optical pair to detect the hole. An electromechanical control system will be used.

Dan Dellosa Description: A system will be designed and built to mix various drinks. This will include a conveyor, sensors, actuators, and drink dispensers. The system will be controlled with a PLC. Note: This project will have a number of design complications that must be identified early in the term.

Elaine Rodrigues Description: A robot arm will be designed and built that can move up/down, left/right, and has a gripper that will open/close. The robot will be controlled via a computer program, and electrical connections to the robot.

Shahram Binesh Description: Parts will be transported to a stamping station in the workcell. Once there they will be fixed in a jig, and a rubber stamp will be used to make an ink impression. The part will then be ejected from the jig, and travel down another path.

Tarius Makmur Description: To build a manually controlled robot to perform a certain task using a joystick for control. This small scale robot will be capable of picking up an object, and positioning it in another location. And, for proof of concept, a set of fixtures, jigs or feeders will be constructed for a simple robotic task. Note: This project has too many people for construction of a robot only.

S. Ahmad Majidi Tehrani Description: Development of a design, and selection and design of an automated facility for manufacture of a video cassette holder specifically for wedding videos. Note: The final design should focus on detailed drawings, selection of specific machines, plans for implementation, etc.

Michael Nicola Description: A line will be examined for the production of office dividers. These partitions are currently assembled in a manual process, but this should be automated for quantities of 400-600. Note: The final design should focus on detailed drawings, selection of specific machines, plans for implementation, etc.

Mike Poczo Description: A conveyor based system will be designed and built for sorting boxes by a switched conveyor path. This will include construction of the conveyor, sensors, actuators, and control system.

Robert Pound Description: A current design for a ceiling fan will be examined for assembly efficiency, and a new automated assembly line will be designed. Note: The final design should focus on detailed drawings, selection of specific machines, plans for implementation, etc.

Mike Cecchini Description: At NR they currently use workers to manually insert clips one at a time, by hand, into a flat rubber part. This procedure is slow and has created a couple of Repetitive Motion Injuries. There have been unsatisfactory attempts by NR to resolve the problem. This groups will examine possible solutions (with NR’s permission) including, a clipping gun or tool, a cartridge loading system, a bowl feeder based reloader.

Michael Staples Description: Glasses on a conveyor belt (?) will be transported to/from a dispensing station where they will be filled by an automated mechanism. The system will be designed and built, possibly using a PLC, or a PC for control.

Chinh N. Huynh Description: A flush valve system for use in porcelain toilets will be examined, redesigned, and a partially automated assembly line will be designed. Note: The final design should focus on detailed drawings, selection of specific machines, plans for implementation, etc.

John Yuem Description: An actuated system will be designed and built to level a platform under tilting conditions. This will involve actuators positioned at four corners. A control system will be constructed to drive the actuating cylinders.

Description: A pressure adjustment mechanism will be added to reduce waste, and coating of rollers.

Description: The IBM Robot simulators (for the AML language) will be used to simulate an assembly process, with the objective of optimizing layout of the assembly stations. Note: the assembly task should be specified.

Deliverables: AML programs, A Detailed Report including well justified conclusions.

2. Students have been advised that topics that have been listed here are of adequate scope, if other topic choices are made, it is at the discretion (and risk) of the individual students.

Reason: This will help the student realize why different robots are chosen for different tasks.

Problem: Each group will design a robot for a task, as described below. This will include analysis of the task requirements including AT LEAST, degrees of freedom, workspace, actuators, sensors, kinematics, path planning, and programming. The final design should include a clear and concise report between 5 to 10 written pages in length, describing in detail the design decisions. This report should also have drawings, or good quality hand sketches of the basic robot configuration.

14. a robot that it used to test car doors by repeatedly opening and closing them.

Evaluation: Marks will be awarded on the basis of completeness of the design, and suitability of the robot to the assigned task. Marks will be deducted for unclear, vague reports and drawings.

Purpose: To do detailed design/analysis of the robot concept designed in Assignment #1.

Reason: To ensure that the short comings of the design are revealed (and overcome if possible), and that the various technologies involved are explored at a professional level.

Method: Each of the four team members that cooperated on the first assignment will now select and do 1 of the four problems below. These are to be individually labeled so that individual marks can be assigned. Note: sections that are not done individually will simply not be marked.

1. Do a kinematic analysis of the robot including, the forward/inverse kinematics, the workspace boundaries, singularities, and the Jacobian. The kinematic analysis should be done with both simple homogeneous transforms and the Denavit-Hartenberg to verify the results.

2. Develop a flowchart of the actions that must occur for the robot. Associate these to the sensors, and actuators of the robot. Develop a control program using either a PLC, or AML. If necessary, you may add new commands to assist you, as long as they are very clearly defined.

3. An analysis of the robot to find the accuracy, repeatability and spatial resolution must be done based on the sensors selected, actuators chosen, flexibility of joints, payload, maximum velocities, etc.

4. The end of arm tooling must either be fully designed, including drawings, or commercially selected with alternatives, and costs. In both cases the suitability of the design should be verified using suitable engineering calculations.

Answer 25.78 b

Problem 25.79 For the part shown below, design a part feeder.

Problem 25.80 For a computer mouse, describe the various DFA problems and suggest solutions.

Problem 25.81 Design a system for making coffee and pouring it into Styrofoam cups. Lids must be put on after the coffee is complete. The user should be able to select 1 or 2 creams and/or sugars by pressing buttons. This should include rough mechanical layout, electrical connections, actuators and sensors, feeders, etc.

Problem 25.82 For the robot pictured below,

a) calculate 5 (x,y) points along a straight line path from (0.5,0.5) to (-0.5,0.5).

b) Develop the inverse kinematic equations and calculate the joint angles at each of the points in part a)

Problem 25.83 Briefly describe the relationship between CAD, CAM and CIM.

Problem 25.84 Show graphically how we would choose between manual labor and fixed automation.

Problem 25.85 What technological limitations reduce the chance of success when implementing a new CIM/FMS system?

Problem 25.86 Give examples of equipment for each of the four levels of the Shop Floor Production Model. (4%)

Problem 25.87 What use would the IDEF0 model have in an automated factory?

Problem 25.88 What use would a graphical user interface (GUI) have in workcell control. Use an example to illustrate your reason.

Problem 25.89 What robotic configurations (e.g., SCARA) and number of degrees of freedom are suitable for the following tasks. If needed write any assumptions made as footnotes below the table. (6%)

Problem 25.90 Design a material handling system based on vibratory feeders to sort the parts below. Assume the parts are mixed together in the same bin, and the parts will emerge from the same vibratory feeder in two separate tracks. (8%)

Problem 25.91 We want to design a 2 d.o.f. robot for gluing on continuous paths. The robot will be articulated, as shown below. We want to do some high and low level design before ordering components, fabricating parts and writing software.

a) What are forward kinematic equations?

b) What are the inverse kinematic equations? Give all possible solutions.

c) Develop the Jacobian matrix for the robot, also find the Inverse Jacobian.

d) select suitable actuators for positioning the robot.

e) select suitable sensors for determining joint positions.

f) roughly design the EOAT for picking up spherical objects.

g) Develop the equations needed to find points on the robots straight line (point to point) motion paths. The robot should start and stop smoothly. (6%)

h) Develop a complete block diagram of the robotic system. Clearly name all of the boxes and label the inputs and outputs. (10%)

i) Assuming that the robot uses the AML programming language, write a program to track a square with the bottom left corner at (2m, 1m), and the top right corner at (3m, 1.5m). Make any reasonable assumptions needed. (6%)

25. MEC 732: Automated Manufacturing Systems

25.1.1 Library

25.1.2 Internet

25.1.3 Other Ideas

25.2.1 Old Projects

Answer 25.78 b