ROBOTICS – OIE 751

UNIT-5
Robot Economics
Dr. B. Janarthanan
Professor
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Mohamed Sathak A.J. College of Engineering
Syllabus and Course Outcomes

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Syllabus and Course Outcomes

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Syllabus and Course Outcomes

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Economic analysis
• The cost data required to perform the economic
analysis of a robot project divide into two typs
1. Investment costs
2. Operating costs

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Investment costs
1. Robot purchase cost
2. Engineering costs
3. Installation cost
4. Special tooling
5. Miscellaneous cost

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Operating costs
1. Direct labour cost
2. Indirect labour cost
3. Maintenance
4. Utilities
5. Training

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Savings
1. Labour replacement
2. Quality improvement
3. Increase in productivity
4. Indirect savings

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Three common methods
In an industry, the investment put on the
development of a robot can be compared and
analyzed by three common methods such as
1. Pay back method
2. EUAC method (Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost)
3. Return on Investment method (ROI method)

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Pay back period method
• The duration taken to equal the initial investment and net
accumulated cash flow in the development of a robot is
called as payback period
• If the net annual cash flows are identical to every year, then
it can be stated by a formula given below
Total Investment
Payback period =
Net Annual savings
Total Investment
𝑃=
𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 − 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡
𝐶
𝑃=
𝐴−𝑀
C = R+G+S+D+F
A = L+Q+I
M = Annual Maintenance Cost
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Pay back period method

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Pay back period method

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Pay back period method

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Pay back period method

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EUAC method
• The EUAC is the short form of Equivalent Uniform Annual
Cost method.
• It is used to alter the total cash flows and investments
into the equivalent uniform costs over the expected time
of developing a robot
• It is done by employing different interest features that
are connected with the calculations of engineering
economy.
• This method converts all of the present, future
investments and the cash flows into their equivalent
uniform cash flows over the anticipated life of the
project.
• This is accomplished by using various interest factors
associated with engineering economic calculations.

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EUAC (Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost)
method
𝐴
• 𝐸𝑈𝐴𝐶 = − 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 +
𝑃
𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠 − 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡
𝐴
• is a factor to be obtained from the interest factor
𝑃
tables for MARR and n
• MARR – Minimum Attractive Rate of Return
• n – project period in years
• If EUAC sum is +ve, then it is worthwhile to make
investment
• If EUAC sum is less than zero, then the project is
considered unattractive
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EUAC (Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost)
method

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EUAC (Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost)
method

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EUAC (Equivalent Uniform Annual Cost)
method

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Return on Investment method

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Return on Investment method

If Rate of Return exceeds MARR, then the investment is

considered worthwhile
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Automated guided vehicle
• An automated guided vehicle or automatic
guided vehicle (AGV) is a robot that follows along
marked long lines or wires on the floor, or uses
radio waves, vision cameras, magnets, or lasers for
navigation.
• They are most often used in industrial applications
to transport heavy materials around a large
industrial building, such as a factory or warehouse.
• Application of the automatic guided vehicle
broadened during the late 20th century.

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AGV

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Components of AGV

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Advantages of AGVs
1. AGV can be controlled and monitored by computers.
2. On a long run, AGVs decrease labour costs.
3. They are unmanned and hence can be used in
extreme/hazardous environments.
4. They are compatible with production and storage
equipment.
5. They can be used to transport hazardous substances.
6. They can reduce downtime in production.
7. Improvement in productivity and profit.
8. They can be used for continuous operations.

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Applications of AGVs
• Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) increase efficiency
and reduce costs by automation.
• Automated Guided Vehicles can be used in a wide
variety of applications to transport many different
types of material.
• Raw Material Delivery - The transportation of raw
materials such as paper, steel, rubber, metal, and
plastic.
• Assembly Systems - Movement of the manufactured
product to support serial assembly processes.

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Applications of AGVs
• Work-in-Process Movement - The repetitive movement of
materials throughout the manufacturing process or between
manufacturing cells
• Pallet Handling - Movement of pallets from the palletizer to
stretch wrapping to the warehouse/storage and/or to the
outbound shipping docks.
• Finished product handling - Moving finished goods from
manufacturing to storage or shipping is the final movement of
materials before they are delivered to customers. These
movements often require the gentlest material handling
because the products are complete and subject to damage
from rough handling.
• Hazardous Materials Handling - Some material handling are
better left to an AGV. The material or product to be carried
may be dangerous or the actual operating environment in
which the AGV is operating may be harmful (e.g. radioactive,
chemicals etc) to an human operator.

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Rail guided vehicle (RGV)

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Rail Guided Vehicle (RGV)
• Rail Guided Vehicle (RGV) is a flexible transportation
vehicle.
• It can link multiple destinations and be a good &
economic alternative of conveyor by its characteristic
that it can eliminate complex and fixed layout of
conveyors, which enables simple and easily
maintainable transportation system.

• In a system multiple vehicles can be operated according

to the transportation requirement. RGV system
constitutes of transportation rail, vehicles and controller.
RGV rail can be installed linear or circular.
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 RGV
Features
• Independent operation of vehicle by individual controller on each
vehicle
• Low noise & vibration
• Modular design of drive unit to enable less parts and easy
maintenance
• Relatively accurate positioning by an encoder
• Distribution control system

Application
Super high speed-RGV application
• Driving speed 265m/min, C/V loading speed 30m/min
• Inactivity server motor & S-curve urgent
acceleration/deceleration
• Installation of absolute encoder in external timing belt
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 Implementation of robots
The following items that you need to evaluate for a given
application and robot.
1. Weight carrying capacity
2. Repeatability (path and tool position)
3. Reach and Working envelope (configuration, number of axes,
etc..)
4. Speed (for each axis or given path)
5. Mounting capabilities
6. Dimensions and weight
7. Protection and environmental considerations
8. Electrical requirements

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Check list during implementation
• Site planning
• Detailed design
• Equipment selection
• Operational procedures
• Purchase of equipment and software
• Programming and control planning
• Personnel selection and training
• Maintenance and reliability planning
• Safety and health planning
• Installation and testing
• Education and training
• Acceptance testing
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 Robot System Safety
Accidents: Past Studies
• Studies in Sweden and Japan indicate that many robot accidents do not
occur under normal operating conditions but, instead during programming,
program touch-up or refinement, maintenance, repair, testing, setup, or
adjustment.
• During many of these operations the operator, programmer, or corrective
maintenance worker may temporarily be within the robot's working
envelope where unintended operations could result in injuries.

Typical accidents have included the following:

▪ A robot's arm functioned erratically during a programming sequence and

struck the operator.

▪ A materials handling robot operator entered a robot's work envelope during

operations and was pinned between the back end of the robot and a safety
pole.

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Robot System Safety
• In autumn of 1981, a sensational story was
published in the news papers – A Japanese worker
was stabbed to death by a robot
• Are robots dangerous?
• On one hand we say that robots take over
hazardous jobs, but at the same time new risks are
involved
• Accidents involving robots can happen just as with
other production machinery

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Contact
Dr. B. Janarthanan
Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Mohamed Sathak A.J. College of Engineering

Email :
vbjana@gmail.com,
mech.janarthanan@msajce-edu.in

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