Collaborative Research: Part Orienting Devices (PODs) - Novel Devices for Spatial Assembly Tasks

该合作研究基金的研究目标是为空间装配任务设计新的创新设备。该研究将产生一种设计方法来创建低自由度机器，称为零件定向装置，能够产生空间轨迹和重新定向。这些面向零件的装置为解决装配任务提供了另一种选择，否则可能需要一个机器人或多个单自由度机构。本研究将全面解决零件导向装置的设计，包括：(1)其运动学综合，(2)交互式计算机辅助设计工具的创建，以及(3)原型设计，驱动和控制这些装置的指南和工具。这项研究的结果将是新的理论和知识，使设计师能够为空间组装任务创造新的设备。如果成功，该项目将对执行自动化空间装配任务的设计设备的艺术状态做出重大贡献。目前，当产品沿着自动化装配线前进时，产品及其部件都被拾取，重新定位，并插入子组件或夹具中。为了降低成本，装配线设计师尽量使这些操作尽可能简单。围绕垂直或水平轴的旋转是优选的，通常为90度或180度。这些任务有一套行之有效的有效解决方案。然而，装配任务通常本质上是三维的，这些空间装配任务需要更复杂的解决方案。此外，对物体轨迹的附加约束（例如，避免碰撞或部分网格划分）进一步增加了这些任务的复杂性。对于此类空间装配任务，存在两种主要的解决方案。一方面是复杂而昂贵的多自由度机器人系统，另一方面是简单的单自由度装置如铰链和滑块的特别组合。作为这项研究的结果，设计师将有另一种可行的选择，一种全新的设备来实现空间组装任务。与现有技术相比，这些新的面向部件的设备将降低成本，提高可靠性。该项目的成功完成将为设计人员提供一套新的方法、技术和工具来设计和实现这些用于空间装配任务的新型低自由度零件定向设备。

The research objective of this collaborative research grant is to create the capability to design new and innovative devices for spatial assembly tasks. The research will produce a design methodology to create low degree of freedom machines, termed part-orienting devices, capable of producing spatial trajectories and reorientations. These part-orienting devices provide an alternative for solving assembly tasks that might otherwise require a robot or multiple single degree of freedom mechanisms. This research will comprehensively address the design of part-orienting devices including: (1) their kinematic synthesis, (2) the creation of an interactive computer-aided design tool, and (3) guidelines and tools for prototyping, actuating, and controlling these devices. The result of this research will be new theories and knowledge that will enable designers to create novel devices for spatial assembly tasks.If successful, this project will result in significant contributions to the state of the art in designing devices to perform automated spatial assembly tasks. Currently, as a product advances down an automated assembly line, both the product and its component piece parts are picked-up, reoriented, and inserted into subassemblies or fixtures. To reduce costs, assembly line designers try to keep these manipulations as simple as possible. Rotations about vertical or horizontal axes are preferred, often of 90 or 180 degrees. These tasks have a well-established set of efficient solutions. However, assembly tasks are often inherently 3-dimensional in nature and these spatial assembly tasks require more complex solutions. Moreover, additional constraints on the trajectory of the object (for example, collision avoidance or part meshing) further increase the complexity of these tasks. There exist two primary paradigms to finding solutions to such spatial assembly tasks. On the one end are complex and costly multi degree of freedom robotic systems and on the other is an ad hoc assemblage of simple one degree of freedom devices such as hinges and sliders. As a result of this research, designers will have another viable option, a completely new class of devices to realize spatial assembly tasks. These new part-orienting devices will yield reduced costs and increased reliability with respect to the existing technologies. Successful completion of this project will provide designers with a set of new methodologies, techniques, and tools to design and implement these new low degree of freedom part-orienting devices for spatial assembly tasks.