Robots already in use everywhere

Robots already in use everywhere

 Sales of industrial robots cnc machining  have risen to record levels and they have huge, untapped potential for domestic chores like mowing the lawn and vacuuming the carpet. Last year 3,000 underwater robots, 2,300 demolition robots and 1,600 surgical robots were in operation. A big increase is predicted for domestic robots for vacuum cleaning and lawn mowing, increasing from 12,500 in 2000 to almost 500,000 by the end of 2004. IBot Roomba floor cleaning robot is now available at under $200.00.  

 In the wake of recent anthrax scares, robots are increasingly used in postal sorting applications. Indeed, there is huge potential to mechanize the US postal service. Some 1,000 robots were installed last year to sort parcels and the US postal service has estimated that it has the potential to use up to 80,000 robots for sorting.

  Look around at the robots around us today: automated gas pumps, bank ATMs, self-service checkout lanes，machines that are already replacing many service jobs. 

Fast-forward another few decades. It doesn't require a great leap of faith to envision how advances in image processing, microprocessor speed and human-simulation could lead to the automation of most boring, cnc machining  low-intelligence, low-paying jobs.

  Marshall Brain (yes, that's his name) founder of HowStuffWorks.com has written a couple of interesting essays about robotics in the future, well worth reading. He feels that it is quite plausible that over the next 40 years robots will displace most human jobs. According to Brain's projections, in his essay "Robotic Nation", humanoid robots will be widely available by 2030. They will replace jobs currently filled by people for work such as fast-food service, housecleaning and retail sales. Unless ways are found to compensate for these lost jobs, Brain estimates that more than 50% of Americans could be unemployed by 2055 replaced by robots. 

  Intelligent robots will be everywhere

  The world of HAL and Data, of sentient machines, is fast approaching. Indeed, in some ways it has already arrived as humanlike machines increasingly take on the work of humans. As processing power increases exponentially, and as MEMS technology brings smaller and smarter sensors and actuators, robots are the breeding ground for future-generation products with new, cnc machining varied and exciting applications.
 

Boosting Competitiveness

Boosting Competitiveness  

 As mentioned, robotic China metal parts machining  applications originated in the automotive industry. General Motors, with some 40-50,000 robots, continues to utilize and develop new approaches. The ability to bring more intelligence to robots is now providing significant new strategic options. Automobile prices have actually declined over the last two to three years, so the only way that manufacturers can continue to generate profits is to cut structural and production costs.

   When plants are converted to new automobile models, hundreds of millions of dollars are typically put into the facility. The focus of robotic manufacturing technology is to minimize the capital investment by increasing flexibility. New robot applications are being found for operations that are already automated with dedicated equipment. Robot flexibility allows those same automated operations to be performed more consistently, with inexpensive equipment and with significant cost advantages.

 Robotic Assistance

 A key robotics growth arena is Intelligent Assist Devices (IAD).operators manipulate a robot as though it were a bionic extension of their own limbs with increased reach and strength. This is robotics technology not replacements for humans or robots, but rather a new class of ergonomic assist products that helps human partners in a wide variety of ways, including power assist, motion guidance, line tracking and process automation. 

  IAD use robotics technology to help production people to handle parts and payloads, more, heavier, better, faster,China metal parts machining   with less strain. Using a human-machine interface, the operator and IAD work in tandem to optimize lifting, guiding and positioning movements. Sensors, computer power and control algorithms translate the operator's hand movements into super human lifting power.

New robot configurations

  As the technology and economic implications of Moore's law continue to shift computing power and price, we should expect more innovations, more cost-effective robot configurations, more applications beyond the traditional service emphasis.

  The biggest change in industrial robots is that they will evolve into a broader variety of structures and mechanisms. In many cases, configurations that evolve into new automation systems won't be immediately recognizable as robots. For example, robots that automate semiconductor manufacturing already look quite different from those used in automotive plants.

   We will see the day when there are more of these programmable tooling kinds of robots than all of the traditional robots that exist in the world today. There is an enormous sea change coming; the potential is significant because soon robots will offer not only improved cost-effectiveness, but also China metal parts machining  advantages and operations that have never been possible before.

  

Robotics technology trends

Robotics technology trends  

   When it comes to robots, China  precision machining reality still lags science fiction. But, just because robots have not lived up to their promise in past decades does not mean that they will not arrive sooner or later. Indeed, the confluence of several advanced technologies is bringing the age of robotics ever nearer-smaller, cheaper, more practical and cost-effective.

  Brawn, Bone & Brain 

 There are 3 aspects of any robot:   

 Brawn：strength relating to physical payload that a robot can move.  

 Bone：the physical structure of a robot relative to the work it does; this determines the size and weight of the robot in relation to its physical payload.  

 Brain：robotic intelligence; what it can think and do independently; how much manual interaction is required. 

 Because of the way robots China  precision machining have been pictured in science fiction, many people expect robots to be human-like in appearance. But in fact what a robot looks like is more related to the tasks or functions it performs. A lot of machines that look nothing like humans can clearly be classified as robots. And similarly, some human-looking robots are not much beyond mechanical mechanisms, or toys.

   Many early robots were big machines, with significant brawn and little else. Old hydraulically powered robots were relegated to tasks in the 3-D category：dull, dirty and dangerous. The technological advances since the first industry implementation have completely revised the capability, performance and strategic benefits of robots. For example, by the 1980s robots transitioned from being hydraulically powered to become electrically driven units. Accuracy and performance improved.   

 Industrial robots already at work

  The number of robots in the world today is approaching 1,000,000, with almost half that number in Japan and just 15% in the US. A couple of decades ago, 90% of robots were used in car manufacturing, typically on assembly lines doing a variety of repetitive tasks. Today only 50% are in automobile plants, with the other half spread out among other factories, laboratories, warehouses, energy plants, hospitals, and many other industries. 

  Robots are used for assembling products, handling dangerous materials, spray-painting, cutting and polishing, inspection of products. The number of robots used in tasks as diverse as cleaning sewers, detecting bombs and performing intricate surgery is increasing steadily, and will continue to grow in coming years.  

  Robot intelligence

   Even with primitive intelligence, robots have demonstrated ability to generate good gains in factory productivity, efficiency and quality. Beyond that, some of the "smartest" robots are not in manufacturing; they are used as space explorers, remotely operated surgeons and even pets ，like Sony's AIBO mechanical dog. In some ways, manufacturers realize that industrial robots don't  have to be bolted to the floor, or constrained by the limitations of yesterday's machinery concepts.

   With the rapidly increasing power of the microprocessor and artificial intelligence techniques, robots have dramatically increased their potential as flexible automation tools. The new surge of robotics is in applications demanding advanced intelligence. Robotic technology is converging with a wide variety of complementary  technologies-machine vision, force sensing (touch), speech recognition and advanced mechanics. This results in exciting new levels of functionality for jobs that were never before considered practical for robots.

  The introduction of robots with integrated vision and touch dramatically changes the speed and efficiency of new production and delivery systems. Robots have become so accurate that they can be applied where manual operations are no longer a viable option. Semiconductor manufacturing is one example, where a consistent high level of throughput and China  precision machining quality cannot be achieved with humans and simple mechanization. In addition, significant gains are achieved through enabling rapid product changeover and evolution that can't be matched with conventional hard tooling.

Machines Automatic Fixture Design

Machines Automatic Fixture Design  

 Traditional synchronous grippers  China metal parts machining  for assembly equipment move parts to the gripper centre-line, assuring that the parts will be in a known position after they arc picked from a conveyor or nest. However, in some applications, forcing the part to the centre-line may damage cither the part or equipment. When the part is delicate and a small collision can result in scrap, when its location is fixed by a machine spindle or mould, or when tolerances are tight, it is preferable to make a gripper comply with the position of the part, rather than the other way around. For these tasks, Zaytran Inc. Of Elyria, Ohio, has created the GPN series of non- synchronous, compliant grippers. Because the force and synchronizations systems of the grippers are independent, the synchronization system can be replaced by a precision slide system without affecting gripper force. Gripper sizes range from 51b gripping force and 0.2 in. stroke to 40Glb gripping force and 6in stroke. Grippers

  Production is characterized by batch-size becoming smaller and smaller and greater variety of products. Assembly, China metal parts machining  being the last production step, is particularly vulnerable to changes in schedules, batch-sizes, and product design. This situation is forcing many companies to put more effort into extensive rationalization and automation of assembly that  was  previouslyextensive rationalization and automation of assembly that was previously the case. Although the development of flexible fixtures fell quickly behind the development of flexible handling systems such as industrial robots, there are, nonetheless promising attempts to increase the flexibility of fixtures. The fact that fixtures are the essential product - specific investment of a production system intensifies the economic necessity to make the fixture system more flexible.

  Fixtures can be divided according to their flexibility into special fixtures, group fixtures, modular fixtures and highly flexible fixtures. Flexible fixtures are characterized by their high adaptability to different workpieces, and by low change-over time and expenditure. 

  There are several steps required to generate a fixture, in which a workpiece is fixed for a production task. The first step is to define the necessary position of the workpiece in the fixture, based on the unmachined or base pan, and the working features. Following this, a combination of stability planes must be selected. These stability planes constitute the fixture configuration in which the workpiece is fixed in the defined position, all the forces or torques are compensated, and the necessary access to the working features is ensured. Finally, the necessary positions of moveable or modular fixture elements must be calculated- adjusted, or assembled, so that the workpiece is firmly fixed in the fixture. Through such a procedure the planning and documentation of the configuration and assembly of fixture can be automated.

  The configuration task is to generate a combination of stability planes, such that fixture forces in these planes will result in workpiece and fixture stability. This task can be accomplished conventionally, interactively or in a nearly fully automated manner. The advantages of an interactive or automated configuration determination are a systematic fixture design process, a reduction of necessary designers, China metal parts machining a shortening   lead time and better match to the working conditions. In short, a significant enhancement of fixture productivity and economy can be achieved.

Machine Surface Finishing and Dimensional Control

  Machine Surface Finishing and Dimensional Control 

 Products that have been completed to China CNC machining their proper shape and size frequently require some type of surface finishing to enable them to satisfactorily fulfill their function. In some cases, it is necessary to improve the physical properties of the surface material for resistance to penetration or abrasion. In many manufacturing processes, the product surface is left with dirt .chips, grease, or other harmful material upon it. Assemblies that are made of different materials, or from the same materials processed in different manners, may require some special surface treatment to provide uniformity of appearance.

  Surface finishing may sometimes become an intermediate step processing. For instance, cleaning and polishing are usually essential before any kind of plating process. Some of the cleaning procedures are also used for improving surface smoothness on mating parts and for removing burrs and sharp corners, which might be harmful in later use. Another important need for surface finishing is for corrosion protection in a variety of: environments. The type of 

protection procedure will depend largely upon the anticipated exposure, with due consideration to the material being protected and China CNC machining  the economic factors involved.  

Satisfying the above objectives necessitates the use of main surface-finishing methods that involve chemical change of the surface mechanical work affecting surface properties, cleaning by a variety of methods, and the application of protective coatings, organic and metallic.  

 In the early days of engineering, the mating of parts was achieved by machining one part as nearly as possible to the required size, machining the mating part nearly to size, and then completing its machining, continually offering the other part to it, until the desired relationship was obtained. If it was inconvenient to offer one part to the other part during machining, the final work was done at the bench by a fitter, who scraped the mating parts until the desired fit was obtained, the fitter therefore being a 'fitter' in the literal sense. J  It is obvious that the two parts  would have to remain together, and m the event of one having to be replaced, the fitting would have to be done all over again. In these days, we expect to be able to purchase a replacement for a broken part, and for it to function correctly without the need for scraping and other fitting operations。

  When one part can be used 'off the shelf' to replace another of the same dimension and material specification, the parts are said to be interchangeable. A system of interchangeability usually lowers the production costs as there is no need for an expensive, 'fiddling' operation, China CNC machining and it benefits the customer in the event of the need to replace worn parts.

  

Machine parts Limits and Tolerances

Machine parts Limits and Tolerances  

    Machine parts are manufactured so they are interchangeable. China CNC machining In other words, each part of a machine or mechanism is made to a certain size and shape so will fit into any other machine or mechanism of the same type. To make the part interchangeable, each individual part must be made to a size that will fit the mating part in the correct way. It is not only impossible, but also impractical to make many parts to an exact size. This is because machines are not perfect, and the tools become worn. A slight variation from the exact size is always allowed. The amount of this variation depends on the kind of part being manufactured. For examples part might be made 6 in. long with a variation allowed of 0.003 (three-thousandths) in. above and below this size.

  Therefore, the part could be 5.997 to 6.003 in. and still be the correct size. These are known as the limits. The difference between upper and lower limits is called the tolerance

                               

 A tolerance is the total permissible variation in the size of a part.  

 The basic size is that size from which limits of size arc derived by the application of allowances and tolerances.  

 Sometimes the limit is allowed in only one direction.China CNC machining  This is known as unilateral tolerance. Unilateral tolerancing is a system of dimensioning where the tolerance (that is variation) is shown in only one direction from the nominal size. Unilateral tolerancing allow the changing of tolerance on a hole or shaft without seriously affecting the fit. 

When the tolerance is in both directions from the basic size it is known as a bilateral tolerance (plus and minus).  

  Bilateral tolerancing is a system of dimensioning where the tolerance (that is variation) is split and is shown on either side of the nominal size.China CNC machining Limit dimensioning is a system of dimensioning where only the maximum and minimum dimensions arc shown. Thus, the tolerance is the difference between these two dimensions.

Machine of Surface Finish Production

Machine of Surface Finish Production  

There are basically five mechanisms China CNC machining  which contribute to the production of a surface which have been machined. These are:

(l) The basic geometry of the cutting process. In, for example, single point turning the tool will advance a constant distance axially per revolution of the workpiecc and the resultant surface will have on it, when viewed perpendicularly to the direction of tool feed motion, a series of cusps which will have a basic form which replicates the shape of the tool in cut.  

(2) The efficiency of the cutting operation. It has already been mentioned that cutting with unstable built-up edges will produce a surface which contains hard built-up-edge fragments which will result in a degradation of the surface finish. It can also be demonstrated that cutting under adverse conditions such as apply when using large feeds small rake angles and low cutting speeds, besides producing conditions which lead to unstable built-up-edge production, the cutting process itself can become unstable and instead of continuous shear occurring in the shear zone, tearing takes place, discontinuous chips of uneven thickness are produced, and the resultant surface is poor. This situation is particularly noticeable when machining very ductile materials such as copper and aluminum.

 (3) The stability of the machine tool. China CNC machining Under some combinations of cutting conditions; workpiece size, method of clamping ,and cutting tool rigidity relative to the machine tool structure, instability can be set up in the tool which causes it to vibrate. Under some conditions this vibration will reach and maintain steady amplitude whilst under other conditions the vibration will built up and unless cutting is stopped considerable damage to both the cutting tool and workpiece may occur. This phenomenon is known as chatter and in axial turning is characterized by long pitch helical bands on the workpiece surface and short pitch undulations on the transient machined surface.  

 (4)The effectiveness of removing swarf. In discontinuous chip production machining, such as milling or turning of brittle materials, it is expected that the chip (swarf) will leave the cutting zone either under gravity or with the assistance of a jet of cutting fluid and that they will not influence the cut surface in any way. However, when continuous chip production is evident, unless steps are taken to control the swarf it is likely that it will impinge on the cut surface and mark it. Inevitably, this marking besides looking. 

 (5)The effective clearance angle on the cutting tool. China CNC machining For certain geometries of minor cutting edge relief and clearance angles it is possible to cut on the major cutting edge and burnish on the minor cutting edge. This can produce a good surface finish but, of course, it is strictly a combination of metal cutting and metal forming and is not to be recommended as a practical cutting method. However, due to cutting tool wear, these conditions occasionally arise and lead to a marked change in the surface characteristics.