Production Technology

and Processes
ASSOC. PROF. GAHIRA MAMMADOVA
Introduction to mounting systems,
robots and grippers
 INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTS
WHAT IS A ROBOT?

What is a Robot?
A robot can be defined as a
programmable, self controlled ➢A machine that looks and acts like a human
device consisting of electronic, being.
electrical or mechanical units. ➢An efficient but insensitive person
➢An automatic apparatus.
(video example) ➢Something guided by automatic controls.
➢E.g. remote control
➢A computer whose main function is to
produce motion.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF ROBOT

Robots are devices that are programmed to move parts, or to do work with a tool.
Robotics is a multidisciplinary engineering field dedicated to the development of
autonomous devices, including manipulators and mobile vehicles.
Roboticists develop man-made mechanical devices that can move by themselves,
whose motion must be modelled, planned, sensed, actuated and controlled, and
whose motion behavior can be influenced by “programming”.
 Essential Characteristics of robots
Sensing: The robot should be able to sense its surroundings and that is only possible with the
help of sensors.
Types of sensors:
light sensors (eye) , touch sensors(hands) , hearing sensors(ears) or chemical sensors(nose)
Movement: A robot needs to be able to move around its environment whether by rolling on
wheels , walking , snaking or skating.
Energy: A robot needs to be able to power itself which depends upon its power resources e.g.
batteries , power generators or fuel.
Intelligence: A robot needs to be intelligent and smart which is only possible by the programmer
person.
 Characteristic of a Robot
Repeatability
Manual control
Automatic control
Speed of operation
 TYPES OF ROBOTS
Mobile Robots: They are able to move around Industrial Robots: They are used in industrial manufacturing
in their environment and not fixed to one environment e.g. welding , material handling , painting and
physical location. others.
Domestic Or Household Robots: Robots used “a robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator
at home such as robotic vacuum cleaner , designed to move materials, parts, tools, or specialized
robotic pool cleaner and sweeper. devices through variable programmed motions, for the
Medical Robots: Robots used in medicine and performance of a variety of tasks”.
medical institutions e.g. surgery robots
Service Robots: Robots that don’t fall into
other types by usage e.g. robots used for
research. These could be different data
gathering robots, robots made to show off
technologies, robots used for research, etc.
 Military Robots
Military Robots: they are used in military e.g. bomb
disposal robot , different transportation robots and
reconnaissance drones. Often robots initially created for
militarypurposes can be used in law enforcement,
search and rescue and other related fields.
 Entertaining Robots
These are robots used for entertainment. This is a very broad
category. It starts with toy robots such as robosapien or the
running alarm clock and ends with real heavyweights
such as articulated robot arms used as motion simulators.
 TYPES OF ROBOTS
Space robots
This type would include robots used on the International Space Station, Canadar that was used in Shuttles, as well as Mars rovers
and other robots used in space.
Hobby and competition robots
Most of the hobbyist robots are mobile and made to operate by rolling around on wheels propelled by electric motors controlled by
an on board microprocessor.
Explorer robots
The majority of these robots are completely self-reliant due to their sensory systems, however they may also be controlled by
humans giving orders through computer commands. The other types of explorer robots are underground mine exploring robots,
seeing and walking undersea robots, and even bomb defusing robots used by police.
Laboratory robots
Laboratory robotics is the act of using robots in biology or chemistry labs. For example, pharmaceutical companies employ robots
to move biological or chemical samples around to synthesize novel chemical entities or to test pharmaceutical value of existing
chemical matter.
 Uses and Advantages of Robots

Used in vehicles and car factories

Mounting circuits on electronic devise e.g. mobile phones
Working where there might be danger e.g. nuclear leaks and bomb disposal
Surgeons are performing robotic surgeries to avoid jiggles and movement in microscopically
aided surgery or brain surgery
Mail delivery to various mail stations throughout the building in large corporations
Toy robots are a good source of entertaining for the kids e.g. dancing and talking robots
Robots do not get bored or tired and they can work 24/7 without salary and food
 Disadvantages Of Robots

❑It needs a high supply of power

❑People can lose jobs in factories
❑It needs maintenance to keep it running
❑It cost a lot of money to make or buy a robot as they are very expensive
❑A robot can not respond in time of danger as human can
 Robotics
❖Not a pure Computer Engineering subject
❖Combination e.g. Mechanical, Electrical and Computers
❖Mechatronics = Mechanical + Electronics.
 Current uses of Robots
There are over 3.5 million robots in use in society of which, about 1 million are
industrial robots
◦ 50% in Asia, 32% in Europe, 16% in North America
Factory robot uses:
◦ Mechanical production, e.g., welding, painting
◦ Packaging – often used in the production of packaged food, drinks, medication
◦ Electronics – placing chips on circuit boards
◦ Automated guided vehicles – robots that move along tracks, for instance as
found in a hospital or production facility
Other robot uses:
◦ Bomb disabling
◦ Exploration (volcanoes, underwater, other planets)
◦ Cleaning – at home, lawn mowing, cleaning pipes in the field, etc
◦ Fruit harvesting
 What are the parts
of a robot?
•Manipulator
•Pedestal
•Controller
•End Effectors
•Power Source
 Manipulator
(Mimics the human arm)
• Base
• Appendage
-Shoulder
-Arm
-Grippers
19
 Pedestal
• Supports the manipulator.
• Acts as a counterbalance.
 Controller
(The brain)
• Issues instructions to the robot.
• Controls peripheral devices.
• Interfaces with robot.
• Interfaces with humans.
 End Effectors
(The hand)
• Spray paint attachments
• Welding attachments
• Vacuum heads
• Hands
• Grippers
 Power Source
(The food)
• Electric
• Pneumatic
• Hydraulic
 GRIPPERS
End-of-Arm-Tooling
❑This general class of devices is also called end-of arm tooling (EOAT).
❑Robot end-of-arm tooling is not limited to various kinds of gripping
devices.
❑Grippers not available by default in general purpose robots
In some situations, a robot must change its gripper during its task. If so,
the robot's wrist must be fitted with a quick-disconnect device.
❑The first gripper which was designed resembles more to the human
hand.
❑Later it was realized to design grippers along to the requirement.
(video example)
 How Grippers work?
Seven different methods to grip a part:
❑grasp it
❑hook it
❑scoop it
❑inflate around it
❑attract it magnetically
❑attract it by a vacuum
❑stick to it
 Types of Robotic Grippers
❖Vacuum cups
❖Electromagnets
❖Clamps or mechanical grippers
❖Scoops, ladles, or cups
❖Hooks
❖Hands with three or more fingers
❖Adhesives or strips of sticky tape
REQUIREMENTS FOR AN EFFECTIVE
GRIPPER
1. Parts or items must be grasped and held without damage
2. Parts must be positioned firmly or rigidly while being operated on.
3. Hands or grippers must accommodate parts of differing sizes or even of varying sizes
4.Self-aligning jaws are required to ensure that the load stays centered in the jaws
5. Grippers or end effectors must not damage the part being handled.
6.Jaws or grippers must make contact at a minimum of two points to ensure that the part doesn’t rotate while
being positioned.
 Selection and design considerations in
robot gripper
The industrial robots use grippers as an end effector for picking up the raw and finished work parts. A robot can perform good grasping of objects
only when it obtains a proper gripper selection and design. The gripper must have the ability to reach the surface of a work part. Therefore,
Joseph F. Engelberger, who is referred as Father of Robotics has described several factors that are required to be considered in gripper
selection and design.

The change in work part size must be accounted for providing accurate positioning.

During machining operations, there will be a change in the work part size. As a result, the gripper must be designed to hold a work part even
when the size is varied.
The gripper must not create any sort of distort and scratch in the fragile work parts.
The gripper must hold the larger area of a work part if it has various dimensions, which will certainly increase stability and control in
positioning.

The gripper can be designed with resilient pads to provide more grasping contacts in the work part. The replaceable fingers can also be employed
for holding different work part sizes by its interchangeability facility.

(video example)
 What is a gripper? Why use one?
Grippers and rotary actuators are two of the key
components used on pick and place robotic
machines, duplicating the action of the human hand
and wrist.
A gripper is a device which enables the holding of an
object to be manipulated.
The easier way to describe a hand, a gripper enables
holding, tightening, handling and releasing of an
object to a robot or it can be part of a fixed
automation system.
A gripper is to think of the human hand.
A gripper is just one component of an automated
system.
A gripper can be attached that to a robot or it can
be part of a fixed automation system. Many styles
and sizes of grippers exist so that the correct model
can be selected for the application.
 What is the basic operating principal of a gripper?
Compressed air is supplied to the cylinder of the gripper body
forcing the piston up There are 3 primary motions of the gripper
jaws; parallel, angular and toggle.
Parallel Gripper -The gripper jaws move in a parallel motion in
relation to the gripper body. Used in and down, which through a
mechanical linkage, forces the gripper jaws open and closed.
operating principals refer to the motion of the gripper jaws in
relation to the gripper body Used in a majority of applications,
parallel grippers are typically more accurate than other style
grippers.
Angular Gripper-The gripper jaws are opened and closed around
a central pivot point, moving in a sweeping or arcing motion.
Angular grippers are often used when limited space is available or
when the jaws need to move up and out of the way.
Toggle Gripper -The pivot point jaw movement acts as an over-
center toggle lock, providing a high grip force to weight ratio. This
mechanism will remain locked even if air pressure is lost.
 Internal External Gripping
Grippers are used in two different holding options,
External and Internal. The option used is determined by
the geometry of the part to be grasped, the process to be
performed, orientation of the parts to be grasped and
the physical space available.
External:
External gripping is the most common way to hold parts.
The closing force of the gripper is used to hold the part.
Internal:
Internal gripping is used when the part geometry will
allow and when the process to be performed need
access to the outside surface of the part grasped. The
opening force of the gripper is used to hold the part.
 Kinds of Grippers

Different kinds of grippers developed for specific kind of applications are

1. Mechanical grippers
2. Magnetic grippers
3. Vacuum grippers
4. Inflatable grippers
5. Adhesive grippers
6. Miscellaneous devices like hooks and scoops
 Mechanical Grippers
1. Mechanical grippers have mechanical finger like A mechanical gripper is used as an end effector in a robot for
provisions to grasp an object. grasping the objects with its mechanically operated fingers. In
industries, two fingers are enough for holding purposes.
2. Fingers are provided with jaws for gripping the More than three fingers can also be used based on the
object. application. As most of the fingers are of replaceabletype, it
3. Jaws are designed with suitable provisions for can be easily removed and replaced.
detaching them from the fingers.
4. Detachable jaw design helps us to replace worn
out jaws and to fix different kind of jaws to the
same gripper.
 Types of Mechanical Grippers
1. Based on number of jaws
a) Two jaw gripper
b) Three jaw gripper
2. Based on finger movement
a) Pivoted gripper
b) Linear gripper
 Locking Techniques
The gripped object is held by the jaws using two different techniques.
1. Force locking
All jaws in the gripper presses against the object to hold it firmly.
2. Positive locking
The object is confined within the space formed in between the jaws so that the object rest in the
jaws.
 Gripper Mechanisms
There are many different configuration for mechanical gripper design, some of them are
1. Linkage mechanism
2. Cam actuated mechanism
3. Rack and pinion mechanism
4. Worm and pinion mechanism
5. Lead screw mechanism
6. Cable and pulley mechanism
 Magnetic Grippers
1. Magnetic grippers are used to lift ferrous objects especially ferrous sheet metal parts.
2. They produce very intense magnetic field to grasp the object.

3. Magnetic grippers are of two types, they are

a) Permanent magnet grippers
b) Electromagnetic grippers
 Permanent Magnet Grippers
1. They use permanent magnets to produce the field required to grasp the object.
2. A mechanical stripping device is needed to release the object as the field produced by a
permanent magnet cannot be stopped.
3. Permanent magnet gripper with a releasing mechanism is a modified version of magnetic
chuck.
 Electromagnetic Grippers
1. Electromagnets are used to grasp ferrous object.
2. Electromagnet is a device that becomes a magnet when electricity is applied to its
windings, it loses its magnetism when power is turned OFF.
3. Force developed by an electromagnet is given as
 Criteria for Gripper Selection
5. Surface texture and porosity of the object.
6. Jaw opening and closing times.
7. Stroke length for jaw opening and closing.
8. Maximum gripping force delivered.
9. Maximum stress limits.
10. Dead weight of the gripper.
These are various criteria that should be considered for selecting a gripper.
 Mounting systems

Mounting is a process by which the operating system makes files and

directories on a storage device (such as hard drive, CD-ROM, or
network share) available for users to access via the computer's file
system.
In general, the process of mounting comprises the operating system
acquiring access to the storage medium; recognizing, reading, and
processing file system structure and metadata on it before registering
them to the virtual file system (VFS) component.
The location in VFS that the newly mounted medium was registered is
called mount point; when the mounting process is completed, the user
can access files and directories on the medium from there.
An opposite process of mounting is called unmounting, in which the
operating system cuts off all user access to files and directories on the
mount point, writes the remaining queue of user data to the storage
device, refreshes file system metadata, then relinquishes access to the
device, making the storage device safe for removal.