Currently, most robot programming is done either by manual programming or by the "teach-by-showing" method using a teach pendant. Both of these methods have been found to have several drawbacks. We propose a novel method to program a robot, the assembly-plan-fromobservation (APO) method. The APO method aims to build a system that has the capability of observing a human performing an assembly ta...

Stochastic assembly approaches can reduce the power, computation, and/or actuation demands on assembly systems by taking advantage of probabilistic processes. At the same time, however, they relinquish the efficiency and predictability of deterministic alternatives. This makes planning error-free assembly sequences challenging, particularly in the face of changing environmental conditions or go...

Low-level motion planning techniques must be combined with high-level task planning formalisms to generate realistic plans that can be carried out by humans and robots. A representative example is planning for fenceless assembly cells where robots can collaborate seamlessly with humans to perform assembly tasks. Key constituent components include assembly sequence generation (Morato, Kaipa, and...

The Automated Assembly Team of the APRIMED' Project (abbreviated as A' herein) consists of two parts: the Archimedes Project, which is an ongoing project developing automated assembly technology, and the A' Robot Team. Archimedes is a second generation assembly planning system that both provides a general high-level assembly sequencing capability and, for a smaller class of products, facilitate...

Assembly is a task at which robots excel, but only as long as they operate in well-controlled environments such as factories or assembly lines. This thesis presents a comprehensive planning and execution framework that enables mobile manipulator robots to overcome this limitation and assemble large structures in physically challenging environments. In order to be useful in realistic scenarios, ...

Assembly sequence planning is an integral part of a new product and process development. However, currently there are very few available approaches to evaluate the impact of assembly sequences on product quality. This paper develops a methodology for Quality-driven Sequence Planning (QISP) with consideration to product dimensional quality based on the following three steps: (1) Sequence generat...

The goal of this paper is to explain, using a typical example, the distribution of the different assembly modes in the workspace and their effective role in the execution of trajectories. The singular and non-singular changes of assembly mode are described and compared to each other. The non-singular change of assembly mode is more deeply analysed and discussed in the context of trajectory plan...

Since its presentation at the inaugural 1989 IAAI Conference (O’Brien et al. 1989), Ford’s Direct Labor Management System (DLMS) has evolved from a prototype being tested at a single assembly plant to a fully-deployed application that is being utilized at Ford’s assembly plants throughout the world. DLMS is Ford’s automated solution to managing the automobile manufacturing process system at our...

This paper presents a provably correct and ef®cient, polynomial time, planning tool and its application to a miniature assembly line for toy cars. Although somewhat limited, this process has many similarities with real industrial processes. One of our previous polynomial-time planning algorithms has been extended and adapted to work for a larger class of planning problems, including this partic...

The ability of manipulating flexible objects, such as rubber belts and paper sheets, is important in automated manufacturing systems. This paper describes a novel approach to vision-guided assembly of flexible objects. The operation dealt with in this paper is to assemble a rubber belt with fixed pulleys. By analyzing possible states of the belt based on the empirical knowledge of the belt, we ...