Simulation and off-line programming of robotic workcells

Author

Krishnaprasad V. Kamisetty, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

5-31-1989

Degree Name

Master of Science in Management Engineering - (M.S.)

Department

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

First Advisor

Kevin J. McDermott

Abstract

A typical, complex robotic workcell, namely NJIT's Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) cell has been designed, modelled and simulated to bridge the gap between design and its implementation. McDonnell Douglas' (McAuto) PLACE, BUILD, COMMAND and ADJUST have been used to simulate entire cycle of the NJIT's FMS cell. Various aspects such as "Cycle Time Analysis", robot reachability of various positions in the cell and "Collision Detection" have also been studied and analyzed.

The ease of effecting any modifications to the existing workcell design has been demonstrated. The NJIT's FMS cell consists of the GE P-50 robot, the IBM 7535 robot, the NASA II CNC Milling machine, the SI Handling Cartrac conveyor system, the Optomation II vision system, the GE Series SIX Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) in addition to other auxilliary equipment.

The concept of Off-line programming (OLP) has been implemented for the IBM 7535 robot. The translator program for the IBM 7535 robot has been developed in the C language so that the animation sequences developed in PLACE can be converted into an actual robot program in AML (A Manufacturing Language). This program is then compiled and run on the IBM 7535 robot which is a part of the NJIT's FMS cell, without making any changes to the program that has been developed automatically.

OLP such as what has been successfully implemented in this thesis, has been observed to reduce the program preparation time by more than an order of magnitude and almost obviating the teaching of the actual locations to the robot using the teach pendant. The use of simulation is also seen to help the designer in visualizing and easily modifying the proposed workcell such as NJIT's FMS cell.

Recommended Citation

Kamisetty, Krishnaprasad V., "Simulation and off-line programming of robotic workcells" (1989). Theses. 2807.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/2807