Method for identification and integration of design automation tasks in industrial contexts

Current industrial practice does not reflect the opportunities provided by state-of-the-art design automation methods. The limited application of computational methods to support the design process by automating design tasks is caused by the lack of methods for comprehensive design automation task definition. Therefore, potential design automation tasks are not recognized and already deployed solutions lack integration to design practice from a product lifecycle management (PLM) perspective. In response to these shortcomings, this work proposes a method for identification and integration of design automation tasks that features collaborative workshops and enterprise architecture modelling for comprehensive analysis of design processes including its technological environments. The method applies design automation task templates that contextualize the knowledge levels required for design automation task definition and the design process including its technological environments. Evaluation with three industrial cases shows that the method enables efficient identification and integration of potential design automation tasks in a PLM context. The application of knowledge levels in conjunction with enterprise architecture modelling support the identification and validation of the relevant sources of knowledge required for design automation task formalization. Thus, this work contributes by introducing and evaluating a novel method for design automation task definition that brings the opportunities of state-of-the-art design automation methods into line with requirements stemming from design practice and the related PLM.     

Experience-based optimization of universal manipulation strategies for industrial assembly tasks

The trend towards smaller lot sizes and shorter product life cycles requires automation solutions with higher flexibility. Today’s robotic systems often are uneconomical for frequently changing boundary conditions and varying tasks due to high engineering costs needed for a well-defined supply of parts and pallets. At the same time, even small inaccuracies due to shape deviations in parts or pallets often cause high downtime. This work contributes to the robustness of industrial assembly processes with high inaccuracy concurrent to narrow tolerances. Therefore, contact-based manipulation strategies are defined, which are model-free and object-independent and solve common industrial tasks as palletizing, packaging and machine feeding. While the strategies are robust to inaccuracy up to 5 mm/5° due to localization uncertainty or object displacement, they handle usual industrial assembly tolerance of far below 1mm. The necessary flexibility and reusability for new tasks is guaranteed by hierarchical decomposition into atomic sub-strategies. In order to accelerate the execution, the manipulation strategies are customized to each specific task by unsupervised experience-based learning. The flexibility of the manipulation strategies and the progress in cycle time during the execution are shown on common industrial tasks with varying objects, tolerances and inaccuracies.     

PC-based hierarchical manufacturing cell control

Robots in the industrial factory plant build the backbone for CIM, which is outlined to be the factory automation strategy of the future. In this paper a hierarchical manufacturing cell control system for robotic work cells is described. This approach is based on low-cost personal computer hardware and consists of two different control systems, one for the robot control tasks and another for the work cell control tasks. The underlying concept is based on a strategic architectural model for hierarchical manufacturing control, where it focuses on the process sequence coordination and the process control in the bottom hierarchical layers.     

Bin-picking with a solid state range camera

In this paper we present new work done on the bin-picking problem. The work was triggered by the advent of a new solid state range camera which enables the economic and robust use of range imagery in industrial robotic automation tasks. The application presented is that of pick-and-place of randomly oriented but known polyhedral objects in an industrial robotic work cell. The algorithms for segmentation, pose estimation, and grasp point determination are presented along with practical results from a real industrial grade work cell.     

Relations between complexity,quality and cognitive automation in mixed-model assembly

Modern assembly systems are adapting to the increased mass customization resulting in shorter cycle times, more variants and increased complexity for final assembly operators. More variants require additional support functions targeted for assembly operators to avoid assembly errors. An industrial case study was carried out in order to examine the relations between complexity, quality and cognitive automation. Complexity was quantified by the measure Operator Choice Complexity (OCC). Assembly errors were measured from historical data and cognitive automation was assessed on a task level. Results show that complexity positively correlates with assembly errors and that the usage of cognitive support is low. Over 60% of all tasks in the study were performed based on own experience. Increased usage of cognitive automation is needed in final assembly to minimize the negative effects of complexity.     

e-Automation,an architecture for distributed industrial automation systems

Due to the complexity of modern industrial systems, a conventional automation system is not capable of providing sufficient information management and high-level intelligent approaches, as achieving these functionalities requires the support of comprehensive data management and coordination between system devices and heterogenous information. This paper proposes the concept of e-Automation, in which computer networking and distributed intelligence agent technologies are applied to industrial automation systems, and presents a hardware and software architecture that implements this concept. An open infrastructure based on multi-agent systems is employed in the proposed architecture of e-Automation, which aims to allow the implementation of diverse tasks and to permit greater configurability than can be obtained from a traditional system. To evaluate our proposed e-Automation concept, this paper presents a case study of substation information management which adopts the proposed e-Automation architecture in power system domain.     

Cyber-physical systems alter automation architectures

Recent automation systems are well structured according to tasks fulfilled by the functions executed on dedicated devices. These functional assignments are also reasons for the design and topology of fieldbus communication systems. New approaches like Cyber Physical System (CPS) require different approaches according to existing communication technologies and engineering. On one side the interaction models advance, and on the other side the demands for industrial plants become a lot more flexible. This article shows upcoming demands on automation systems and discusses new strategies for software deployment of automation applications and communication systems to fulfill these requirements. This includes handling of different types of functional coupling, e.g. loose coupling with internet/web based technologies for interaction and information management. In addition the current device models offering specific device functions have to be adapted to the new CPS approach.     

Effects of progressive levels of industrial automation on force and repetitive movements of the wrist

The purpose of this research was to compare the repetition of wrist movements and force produced by workers when packing pencils in manual, semi-automated and automated industrial operations. The study was conducted in a multinational pencil company which had the three production systems operating simultaneously. Highly skilled workers were in a job rotation schedule between the systems. A portable electrogoniometer set was used for measuring the wrist movements. The software V.3.11 (Biometrics prototype design) was used to compute the number of repetitions of 5° or more motion of the wrist. Highly repetitive tasks were identified in all packaging operations involving the three different and progressive stages of production automation. The highest frequencies and most stereotyped movements were recorded in the semi-automated operations, followed by the manual and automated operations. The operations required force application between 9.1 and 12.3% of maximal voluntary contraction between three operations. These results were analysed using analysis of variance. The analysis showed significant differences in frequencies of wrist motion (p<0.05) between the production systems. However, force required by the three operations were not significantly different. The findings indicate that partial automation does not necessarily decrease or eliminate motions performed by human operators. Thus the goal of automation and its level must be carefully considerated prior to implementation.

Relevance to industry

The intensification of the industrial work seems to be influencing job contents, working movements and the rates of musculoskeletal disorders. The study of the relation between repetition and progressive levels of industrial automation may contribute to the understanding of this event.     

Automation-induced monitoring inefficiency: role of display location

Operators can be poor monitors of automation if they are engaged concurrently in other tasks. However, in previous studies of this phenomenon the automated task was always presented in the periphery, away from the primary manual tasks that were centrally displayed. In this study we examined whether centrally locating an automated task would boost monitoring performance during a flight-simulation task consisting of system monitoring, tracking and fuel resource management sub-tasks. Twelve nonpilot subjects were required to perform the tracking and fuel management tasks manually while watching the automated system monitoring task for occasional failures. The automation reliability was constant at 87.5% for six subjects and variable (alternating between 87.5% and 56.25%) for the other six subjects. Each subject completed four 30 min sessions over a period of 2 days. In each automation reliability condition the automation routine was disabled for the last 20 min of the fourth session in order to simulate catastrophic automation failure (0 % reliability). Monitoring for automation failure was inefficient when automation reliability was constant but not when it varied over time, replicating previous results. Furthermore, there was no evidence of resource or speed accuracy trade-off between tasks. Thus, automation-induced failures of monitoring cannot be prevented by centrally locating the automated task.     

Principles for modelling function allocation

Automation is the key element in safety, reliability of industrial processes. Selecting the right type and level of automation requires careful consideration of how to allocate tasks between operators and automation. This is important in order that the joint system, human and machine as seen together, perform in the intended manner. The Halden Reactor Project is currently engaged in a project to study this topic, with an emphasis on maximizing the operator's ability to maintain control and handle unexpected events. Functional models can be used to study this in a process control environment, because they explicitly describe the functions that must be provided by the process or the operator. This paper describes how functional modelling of the joint system can be used to provide a basis for how functions should be allocated.     

Application of robots in assembly automation

The development of flexible assembly is closely related to the introduction of robots in assembly automation. If has long been recognized that automatic parts assembly by robots is one of the most delicate and most difficult tasks in industrial robotics. This task involves two control problems, trajectory planning for the whole automatic assembly process and reduction of the reaction forces appearing between the parts being assembled. This paper addresses both aspects of this control task. The strategical control level for the manipulation of robots and various approaches to trajectory planning tasks in assembly processes are discussed. A new approach to the determination of the strategical control level, including various models (geometric, kinematic and dynamic) for manipulation robots, is briefly described.The last and most delicate phase of the assembly process is parts mating, which is rather like inserting a peg in a hole. In order to reduce the reaction forces appearing between the parts being assembled, force feedback control is applied. The experimental results of the industrial robot insertion process with force feedback are also presented in the paper.     

Designing for user attention: A method for supporting unobtrusive routine tasks

The automation of user routine tasks is one of the most important challenges in the development of Ambient Intelligence systems. However, this automation may be annoying since some tasks may grab users attention in inappropriate situations. Since user attention is a valuable resource, task automation must behave in a considerate manner demanding user attention only when it is required. To address this issue, this work presents a systematic method for supporting the design and automation of unobtrusive routine tasks that can adjust their obtrusiveness level at runtime according to the user attentional resources and context. This method proposes to design the routine tasks that the system must carry out and how they must interact with users in terms of obtrusiveness. The method also provides a software infrastructure that makes the execution of the tasks at the appropriate obtrusiveness degree a reality. Finally, the system has been validated by means of usefulness and performance tests and a practical case study that demonstrates the correctness and applicability of our approach without compromising system performance.     

An algorithm for safe navigation of mobile robots by a sensor network in dynamic cluttered industrial environments

Mobile robots have been widely implemented in industrial automation and smart factories. Different types of mobile robots work cooperatively in the workspace to complete some complicated tasks. Therefore, the main requirement for multi-robot systems is collision-free navigation in dynamic environments. In this paper, we propose a sensor network based navigation system for ground mobile robots in dynamic industrial cluttered environments. A range finder sensor network is deployed on factory floor to detect any obstacles in the field of view and perform a global navigation for any robots simultaneously travelling in the factory. The obstacle detection and robot navigation are integrated into the sensor network and the robot is only required for a low-level path tracker. The novelty of this paper is to propose a sensor network based navigation system with a novel artificial potential field (APF) based navigation algorithm. Computer simulations and experiments confirm the performance of the proposed method.     

Information system structure for a task level robot assembly language for on-line program generation

The increasing industrial need for production automation in one of a kind production and increasing demand for one of a kind or small batch production requires that automation is carried out by programmable automatic equipment in order to ensure that this equipment can be rapidly and easily adjusted and configured to the ever changing production tasks. In order that the adjustment and reconfiguration of the production equipment can be carried out quickly, reliably and in compatibility with the state of the production plant at the time of task execution it is necessary that the equipment tasks can be specified by a specification language, which is much more abstract than the task specification languages that are today commercially available for machine tool and robot programming, and that the corresponding compiler can be controlled by the system controlling the sequence of operations of the assembly plant. To comply with this need a task level robot programming language for assembly operations has been developed with a level of abstraction corresponding to the level of abstraction for the command: Mount part A. The compiler of the language retrieves information about placement and orientation of the parts to be assembled from a database. The information is supplied to the database by proper sensors mounted on the assembly plant, implying that the program which is generated corresponds to the state of the physical plant at program execution time. Additionally, making available information of permitted production assembly sequences has enabled the compiler to be controlled by a system that optimizes the sequence in which a particular assembly should be carried out respecting present availability of resources needed for the assembling tasks.In this paper the designed robot language, the corresponding compiler and the necessary information structures are presented.     

一种安全通用的“互联网+电气自动化”工业互联网应用方法

如何将安全性要求高的电气自动化系统与开放性程度高的互联网实现深度融合,创造出"开放发展、安全可靠"的"互联网+电气自动化"工业互联网,一直是电气自动化工业发展的目标之一。介绍了一种通用、安全、开放的"互联网+电气自动化"工业互联网应用方法,该方法使用KEPServerEX软件与电气自动化设备通信并发布成通用OPC服务,然后通过软件和隔离装置实现自动化设备信息与互联网的正向隔离传输,最后开发移动APP实现开放安全的电气自动化工业互联网应用。     

Human performance in a multiple-task environment: Effects of automation reliability on visual attention allocation

Diagnostic automation has been posited to alleviate the high demands of multiple-task environments; however, mixed effects have been found pertaining to performance aid success. To better understand these effects, attention allocation must be studied directly. We developed a multiple-task environment to study the effects of automation on visual attention. Participants interacted with a system providing varying levels of automation and automation reliability and then were transferred to a system with no support. Attention allocation was measured by tracking the number of times each task was viewed. We found that participants receiving automation allocated their time according to the task frequency and that tasks that benefited most from automation were most harmed when it was removed. The results suggest that the degree to which automation affects multiple-task performance is dependent on the relative attributes of the tasks involved. Moreover, there is an inverse relationship between support and cost when automation fails.     

当前自动化十大热门技术发展趋势述评

当前我同制造业高速发展,拉动了自动化仪器仪表与控制系统向国际水平发展的需求.本文从趋势的角度探索当前工业自动化的十大热门技术.仪器仪表智能化、控制系统网络化、工业通信无线化、物联网与自动化、云计算与自动化,低碳经济自动化、安全生产自动化、节能降耗自动化、模拟仿真普适化及工控软件的发展(包括硬件软件化、软件复用化、软件的...     

Effects of movement speed and predictability in human–robot collaboration

Human–robot collaboration (HRC) is characterized by a spatiotemporal overlap between the workspaces of the human and the robot and has become a viable option in manufacturing and other industries. However, for companies considering employing HRC it remains unclear how best to configure such a setup, because empirical evidence on human factors requirements remains inconclusive. As robots execute movements at high levels of automation, they adapt their speed and movement path to situational demands. This study therefore experimentally investigated the effects of movement speed and path predictability of an industrial collaborating robot on the human operator. Participants completed tasks together with a robot in an industrial workplace simulated in virtual reality. A lower level of predictability was associated with a loss in task performance, while faster movements resulted in higher‐rated values for task load and anxiety, indicating demands on the operator exceeding the optimum. Implications for productivity and safety and possible advancements in HRC workplaces are discussed.     

工业自动化控制系统的设计

工业生产过程自动化系统经过长期不断的发展,特别是在充分利用计算机技术的基础上取得了很大的进步,在生产过程中已发挥其重要作用,成为生产过程安全、稳定、自动化运行不可缺少的工具。本文从工业生产自动化现状趋势、生产过程自动化系统和生产管理系统、软PLC和软DCS、生产过程控制和管理软件的融合等方面展开论述．从工业生产与自动化控制融合环节提出工业自动化控制系统设计的独特见解。     

建立新型开放的自动化网络

本指出网络开放的重要性和意义,从结构上、设备上和网络的相互关系上分析了开放性,在此基础上,提出一个新型的工业自动化三层模型,作为建立新型自动化网络的基础。按此新三层模型建立的自动化网络,就是一个简单、开放的网络,以保证工业控制系统比较理想地运行。