Self-Aligning Grippers and Fixtures

这笔用于初步研究的小额赠款为分析和合成自对准夹具和夹具提供了资金，重点是演示2D方法如何扩展到3D。在抓取工业零件或将其插入夹具时，初始零件位置和方向的微小变化可能会导致卡住、滑动和损坏。尽管制造工程师基于直觉设计了自动对准夹持器，但目标是根据零件的详细几何形状以及推动、倾倒、卡住和可访问性的机械原理来定义最佳解决方案。将开发算法，将零件的CAD模型作为输入，并生成自动对准夹具和夹具的输出规格。研究人员和一名博士生将在实验室中使用工业机器人进行机械实验，以研究零件力学和平均无故障间隔时间的性能。该项目将产生零件获取力学的新理论模型、新的数据结构和新的硬件配置，以提高自动化工业制造系统的可靠性。夹爪硬件将是廉价的，并有近期的适用性。自动对准夹持器可以简化装配、提高可靠性、降低实施成本，并便于为广泛的制造应用进行安装。

This small grant for preliminary research provides funding for analysis and synthesis of self-aligning grippers and fixtures, with an emphasis on demonstrating how 2D methods extend to 3D. Small variations in initial part position and orientation can lead to jamming, slippage, and damage as industrial parts are grasped or inserted into fixtures. Although manufacturing engineers have designed self-aligning grippers based on intuition, the goal is to define optimal solutions that depend on detailed part geometry and the mechanics of pushing, toppling, jamming, and accessibility. Algorithms will be developed that take as input a CAD model of the part and generate as output specifications for self-aligning grippers and fixtures. The investigator and one Ph.D. student will implement such grippers and perform mechanical experiments using the industrial robot in the lab to study part mechanics and performance in terms of Mean Time Between Failure.This project should produce new theoretical models of the mechanics of part acquisition, new data structures, and new hardware configurations that will improve the reliability of automated industrial manufacturing systems. The gripper hardware will be inexpensive and have near-term applicability. Self-aligning grippers can simplify assembly, increase reliability, decrease implementation cost, and facilitate setup for a broad range of manufacturing applications.