Studies on Intelligent Robots Equipped with flexible Jigs and Tools

本课题的目的是建立使用柔性夹具的先进操作的基本技术。1）机器人可重构可编程夹具的开发。通过实验，设计、制造和评价了可编程机器人组装的可重构夹具。2）分析和综合柔性夹具的装配操作，开发了用于装配操作规划和夹具设计的分析工具。分析了装配体零件与夹具接触时的运动行为。装配过程的特点是一系列的操作，导致接触条件的变化betwwn的部分和夹具。然后，装配操作由状态网络表示，以便可视化接触的过渡。采用状态网络表示法，建立了任务规划和夹具设计问题的数学模型，并应用数学调度技术和路径搜索技术，设计了求解问题的算法。3）可重构通用夹持器的分析与设计基于柔性夹具的概念，研制了一种具有可自动重构手指的通用机器人夹持器。4）计算机辅助任务规划系统的开发上述技术和算法已在一个CAD系统上实现和集成。

The goal of the project is to establish fundamental techniques for advanced manipulation with use of flexible jigs and fixtures.1) Development of programmable jigs and fixtures reconfigured by a robotic manipulator.Reconfigurable jigs and fixtures that are assembled by a programmable robot have been designed, fabricated and evaluated through experiments. Guidelines for the design of the flexible jigs and fixtures and programming tools for the devices have been developed as well.2) Analysis and synthesis assembly operations using flexible jigs and fixtures.Analytic tools for the planning of assembly operations and the design of jigs and fixtures have been developed. Kinematic behavior of assembly parts that are constrained and quided by contacts with jigs and fixtures was analyzed. The assembly process was characterized as a sequence of operations that cause changes in contact conditions betwwn the part and the jig. Assembly operations were then represented by state networks in order to Visualize the transitions of contacts. Task planning and jig-fixture design problems were formulated by using the state network representation, and algorithms for solving the problems were devised by applying techniques of mathematical scheduling as well as path-finding techniques.3) Analysis and design of reconfigurable universal grippers.On the basis of the flexible jig-fixture concept, a universal robotic gripper with automatically reconfigurable fingers has been developed. An efficient algorithm for finding optimal fingertip locations was also developed.4) Development of a computer-aided task plaaning system.The above techniques and algorithms for intelligent robots with programmable jigs and fixtures have been implemented and integrated on a CAD system.