Design, Construction and Analysis of a Telepresent Microassembly System

This paper investigates the design and construction of a telepresent microassembly system and the influence of real networks on precise telepresent microassembly. The application of telepresence technologies in small-lot microassembly production systems provides a number of advantages, including increased precision, improved ergonomics, decreased contamination through the removal of direct human contact, and the ability to remotely control the microassembly scenario. Although this last advantage can be very useful, it also provides a threat in that the employed network could introduce delays into the system. Such delays negatively affect the precision of operations. The first aim of this research is to design and construct a flexible telepresent microassembly system. The second aim is to evaluate this system under real-world network conditions for typical microassembly tasks.