The document outlines the applications of robots in various industries, particularly in manufacturing, where they perform tasks such as material handling, machine loading and unloading, and processing operations like welding and spray coating. It discusses the assembly systems involving robots and the potential future advancements in robot technology, including artificial intelligence and enhanced sensory capabilities. Future robots are envisioned to undertake complex tasks in challenging environments, including maintenance, security, and domestic applications.

1. Servo and Robot Drives
• UNIT : I
• INTRODUCTION TO ROBOTIC SYSTEMS
• Applications of Robot in Industry
• In Manufacturing Industry
• Material handling
• Assembly & Inspection
Prepared by,
S.BOOBALAN
(Assistant Professor/EEE)
Date: 18-Jan.-2018
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING
SIXTH SEMESTER

2. ROBOT APPLICATIONS

3. ROBOT APPLICATIONS
• Most of the current applications of industrial
robots are in manufacturing. The
applications can be classified into following
categories.
•Material handling
•Processing operations.
•Assembly and inspection.

4. MATERIAL HANDLING
•Robots are used to move materials or
parts from one place to another.
Material handling applications are
divided into the following categories.
• Material transfer applications.
• Machine loading and unloading applications.

5. MATERIAL TRANSFER APPLICATIONS
• The primary purpose of a robot is to
pickup parts at one location and places
them at new location. The robots used
for this purpose are called pick-and
place robots. Only two, three or four
joints are required for most of the
applications.
• In some cases, reorientation of the part
must be accomplished during the
relocation. A more complex example of
material transfer is palletizing, in which
the robot must retrieve parts, cartons
or other objects from one location and
deposit them onto a pallet or other
container with multiple positions.

6. ROBOT APPLICATIONS FOR MACHINE
LOADING AND UN LOADING
•Industrial robot applications of machine
loading and / or unloading include the
following.
•Die Casting
•Plastic Moulding
•Metal machining operations
•Forging
•Press working

7. PROCESSING OPERATIONS
Processing applications are those in which the robot
performs a processing operation on a work part. Example of
industrial robot applications in the processing category
include spot welding, continuous arc welding, spray painting
and other rotating spindle processes.
• Spot Welding: It is a metal joining process in which two
sheet metal parts are fused together at localized point of
contact. Two copper based electrodes are used to squeeze
the metal parts together and then apply a large electrical
current across the contact point to cause the fusion to
occur.
• Robots used for spot welding are usually large, with
sufficient payload capacity to hold and use the heavy
welding gun. Five or six axes are generally required to
achieve the required positioning and orientation of the
welding gun.

18. PROCESSING OPERATIONS
• Spray Coating: Spray coating makes use of a
spray gun directed at the object to be coated.
Paint flows through the nozzle of the spray gun to
be dispersed and applied over the surface of the
object.
• Robot applications include spray coating of
appliances, automobile car bodies, engines and
other parts, spray staining of wood products and
spraying of porcelain coatings on bathroom
fixtures.

19. ASSEMBLY AND INSPECTION
Assembly
• The assembly system is a combination of a robot, a
transfer device and part feeders.
• One approach in designing assembly systems is that the
assembled object is moving on a straight line indexing or
rotary indexing table and in each station a robot is adding
one part to the assembled object.
• This configuration requires many simple robots along the
assembly line, each performing a particular operation.
• The advantage of this system is the small cycle time per
product.

21. Inspection
• The robots perform loading and unloading tasks to
support an inspection or testing machine.
• This case is really machine loading and unloading, where
the machine is an inspection machine. The robot picks
parts that enter the cell, loads and unloads them to carry
out the inspection process.
• In some cases, the inspection may result in parts
sortation that must be accomplished by the robot.
• The robot manipulates an inspection device, such as a
mechanical probe, to test the product. This case is similar
to a processing operation in which the end effector
attached to the robot wrist is the inspection probe.

24. ROBOT APPLICATIONS IN FUTURE
• The future tasks may require higher level of intelligence and decision making
capabilities, for which artificial intelligence may needs to be incorporated in
design of robot controllers.
• The future robots technology may use more advanced sensor capabilities i.e.,
vision, tactile sensing and voice communication etc.
• The future robots will have the gripper devices with the concept of universal
hand to handle tactile sensing and hand articulation.
• The future robots may perform inaccessible environments like maintenance
and repairs of complex machinery.
• The robots may be used in underground coal mining, fire fighting operations,
space etc.
• Robots can be used as security guards and may have many more domestic
applications
• The future robot technology may permit teleconference capabilities, so that
humans can command the robot from remote environment.