A review on ultrasonic spot welding of copper alloys

As a solid state joining process, ultrasonic spot welding has been proven to be a promising technique for joining copper alloys. However, challenges still remain in employing ultrasonic spot welding to join copper alloys. This article comprehensively reviews the current state of ultrasonic spot welding of copper alloys with a number of critical issues including materials flow, plastic deformation, temperature distribution, vibration, relative motion, vertical displacement, interface friction coefficient, online monitoring technique, coupled with the macrostructure and microstructure, the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity. In addition, the future trends in this field are provided.     

Team O2AS at the world robot summit 2018: an approach to robotic kitting and assembly tasks using general purpose grippers and tools

ABSTRACT

In this article, we propose a versatile robotic system for kitting and assembly tasks which uses no jigs or commercial tool changers. Instead of specialized end effectors, it uses its two-finger grippers to grasp and hold tools to perform subtasks such as screwing and suctioning. A third gripper is used as a precision picking and centering tool, and uses in-built passive compliance to compensate for small position errors and uncertainty. A novel grasp point detection for bin picking is described for the kitting task, using a single depth map. Using the proposed system we competed in the Assembly Challenge of the Industrial Robotics Category of the World Robot Challenge at the World Robot Summit 2018, obtaining 4th place and the SICE award for lean design and versatile tool use. We show the effectiveness of our approach through experiments performed during the competition.     

Inverse reinforcement learning-based time-dependent A* planner for human-aware robot navigation with local vision

In an environment where robots coexist with humans, mobile robots should be human-aware and comply with humans' behavioural norms so as to not disturb humans' personal space and activities. In this work, we propose an inverse reinforcement learning-based time-dependent A* planner for human-aware robot navigation with local vision. In this method, the planning process of time-dependent A* is regarded as a Markov decision process and the cost function of the time-dependent A* is learned using the inverse reinforcement learning via capturing humans' demonstration trajectories. With this method, a robot can plan a path that complies with humans' behaviour patterns and the robot's kinematics. When constructing feature vectors of the cost function, considering the local vision characteristics, we propose a visual coverage feature for enabling robots to learn from how humans move in a limited visual field. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been validated by experiments in real-world scenarios: using this approach robots can effectively mimic human motion patterns when avoiding pedestrians; furthermore, in a limited visual field, robots can learn to choose a path that enables them to have the larger visual coverage which shows a better navigation performance.     

Optimal design of nonlinear model predictive controller based on new modified multitracker optimization algorithm

The controller design for the robotic manipulator faces different challenges such as the system's nonlinearities and the uncertainties of the parameters. Furthermore, the tracking of different linear and nonlinear trajectories represents a vital role by the manipulator. This paper suggests an optimal design for the nonlinear model predictive control (NLMPC) based on a new improved intelligent technique and it is named modified multitracker optimization algorithm (MMTOA). The proposed modification of the MTOA is carried out based on opposition-based learning (OBL) and quasi OBL approaches. This modification improves the exploration behavior of the MTOA to prevent it from becoming trapped in a local optimum. The proposed method is applied on the robotic manipulator to track different linear and nonlinear trajectories. The NLMPC parameters are tuned by the MMTOA rather than the trial and error method of the designer. The proposed NLMPC based on MMTOA is compared with the original MTOA, genetic algorithm, and cuckoo search algorithm in literature. The superiority and effectiveness of the proposed controller are confirmed to track different linear and nonlinear trajectories. Furthermore, the robustness of the proposed method is emphasized against the uncertainties of the parameters.     

Water leakage due to the welding defect and improvement to reach 1-MW beam operation in the mercury target of J-PARC

ABSTRACT

Neutron flux per pulse reached world record at neutron source in Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). In the J-PARC, mercury target system is used as a spallation neutron source. A target vessel has a multi-walled protection system that comprises a mercury vessel enclosed with a double-walled water shroud. This is to prevent the leakage of the mercury outside the target vessel. The multi-walled structure needed to be complicated with a lot of welding lines. However, during the operation, we faced an unscheduled shutdown due to water leakage to the intermediate layer between the mercury vessel and water shroud. An investigation on the cause of the leakage was carried out. It is deduced that the leakage path was formed due to the crack propagation from welding defects that are caused by the complicated multi-walled structure. The crack propagation is attributed to the repeated stress by pressure waves generated in the mercury target. Based on the investigation results, the design was improved to remove the welding line on the complicated structure and to realize the stable operation with 1 MW proton beam, which is the final design value of the neutron source in J-PARC.     

Al-Cu合金片对钢/铝异种金属激光-MIG复合焊接头组织和性能的影响

采用PLC系统控制的激光-MIG复合焊接工艺对Q890钢/6063铝合金进行异种金属焊接,研究了钢侧坡口表面添加Al-Cu合金片对接头显微组织、硬度和拉伸性能的影响。结果表明:激光-MIG复合焊接接头具有典型的熔钎焊特征;未添加Al-Cu合金片的接头界面层由舌状相Fe2Al5和粗大针状相Fe4Al13组成,厚度约18μm,添加Al-Cu合金片后由舌状相(Fe,Cu)2Al5和细小絮状相(Fe,Cu)4Al13组成,厚度约为9μm,焊缝区与热影响区的组织与未添加Al-Cu合金片时的相似;添加Al-Cu合金片的接头界面层硬度比未添加Al-Cu合金片的低约59HV;添加Al-Cu合金片的焊接接头的抗拉强度比未添加Al-Cu合金片的提高了109.8%,未添加和添加Al-Cu合金片的焊接接头均在界面层断裂。     

“都林”机器人内板连续式喷涂技术应用浅析

结合新工厂的应用经验,通过对"都林"机器人的喷涂方式、布局、雾化器配置选型、参数设置、仿形设计及品质控制要点等方面的分析,总结了连续式喷涂的优势及技术控制要求。     

基于2D激光扫描的基准检测技术研究

在机器人自动制孔系统中,基准孔检测的准确性会直接影响整个机器人制孔过程的位置精度。为获取基准孔孔位准确信息,采用激光扫描的方式对基准孔进行检测。设计了2D线激光扫描在基准平面内点云的三维转化方法,通过分析基准孔在扫描仪坐标系下点云的分布特点,提出了一种基于坐标差值的基准孔边界提取算法。通过设定相邻点云在线激光扫描仪坐标系下z轴的坐标差值获取边界点,实验验证该算法能有效地去除点云中的噪声点,获取准确的基准孔边缘特征信息,进而得到准确的基准孔孔位信息。     

适应不同重力环境的仿壁虎机器人运动仿真

针对不同重力环境下仿壁虎机器人的运动稳定性、运动高效协调性等问题,基于四足机器人的步态规划现状和仿壁虎机器人自身特定的机械结构,设计了仿壁虎机器人在g、0、-g 3种环境下的足端轨迹和运动步态。在ADAMS仿真软件中研究了机器人的运动学和动力学特性,得到了仿壁虎机器人稳定爬行与脚掌黏附力、足端轨迹和运动步态的关系。探讨了仿真结果的合理性和局限性,为仿壁虎机器人在实际环境中的稳定运动奠定了理论基础。     

隔热涂料在汽车领域的应用研究

详细分析和研究了隔热涂料在汽车领域(汽车挡风玻璃、塑料及皮革内饰件、激光焊接技术)的应用。