Robotic Vehicle Sanding Work Cell Development – UA10-RRAD

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Robotic Vehicle Sanding Work Cell Development – UA10-RRAD

This project investigates the possibility of reducing human contact in a hazardous environment where the work is labor intensive and the object conditioned is many times larger than one human operator.

Sponsor:

Red River Army Depot

Research Team:

Earnest W. Fant

Universities Involved:

University of Arkansas

Start Date:

06/01/09

End Date:

05/31/10

Summary:

Introduction

The Rubber Products Division, RRAD, reprocesses subassemblies and components for track vehicles by removing old rubber and adding new rubber to track products. After the old rubber is removed, the basic metallic components must be determined to conform to specifications and be inspected after each process until all processing has been completed and product restored to a new product state. The next step in the logistics supply chain is the collection of various specified components and the appropriate number of each to form a kit of a much larger assembly and stored in box pallet for shipping/transport.

Project Motivation

To assess the capability of performing robotic kitting which includes the task of counting the number of components picked and placed, and placing each component within a specified space in a box pallet until a kit is formed.

Research Objective:

To develop the specifications for a robotic kitting work cell which will include the material handling of components going into and kit pallet leaving the work cell. Because kit components have different size and weight, there must the investigation as to the development of a universal gripper for a robotic arm to account for a range of sizes and weights.