Evaluation of Robotic Technologies for the Stacking of Roof Truss Components- All-Fab Building Components LP

All-Fab Building Components LP总部位于温尼伯，在加拿大拥有7家制造工厂。公司专业从事屋架、楼板系统、墙板、木楼梯、建筑构件的设计和生产。All-Fab以其丰富的产品、卓越的品质和对创新的承诺而闻名。该组织最近开始在自动化方面进行大量投资，以处理重复性任务，并专注于提高生产力。这使他们的员工能够从这些任务转移到生产设施内更高价值的活动。作为工厂自动化的一部分，All-Fab正在采用机器人技术对机械屋架部件进行分类和堆叠。这需要仔细评估特定的机器人解决方案和工具选项，以确保成功实施。All-fab已经为这个技术评价项目确定了一个具体的劳动密集型过程。由于桁架部件的尺寸、所涉及的部件的体积以及加工过程对先前加工活动的依赖性而带来的复杂性使其特别适合于此时的自动化。目前在如何实现这种自动化方面存在很大的知识差距。因此，All-Fab要求与红河学院理工学院（RRC Polytech）的航空航天与制造技术访问中心（TACAM）合作，对所需的机器人技术进行全面评估。这将包括使用虚拟编程和仿真、机器视觉替代方案、机器人-机器通信、人机界面和设计建议来评估机器人过程。TACAM团队拥有丰富的经验和专业知识来支持All-Fab的自动化工作。该团队将部署机器人编程、传感器集成、仪器和控制、机械设计和项目管理方面的能力来交付该项目。通过这个项目，All-Fab将有机会在投资实际实施之前评估和降低关键机器人技术的风险。公司有能力实施和进一步推进研究成果，以提高生产力，获得竞争优势，提高盈利能力。该项目对加拿大经济适用房的建筑构件的设计和制造非常重要。学院团队期待着将他们先进的制造专业知识应用于建筑行业。所获得的知识将使学生/实习生、研究人员和教师受益，并将在未来的研究活动中发挥作用。

All-Fab Building Components LP is head-quartered in Winnipeg and operates a network of seven manufacturing facilities across Canada. The company specializes in the design and production of roof trusses, floor systems, wall panels, wood stairs and building structural members. All-Fab is especially reputable for their wide variety of products, excellence and commitment to innovation. The organization recently started investing significantly in automation to handle repetitive tasks with focus on improving productivity. This is enabling their staff to shift from those tasks to higher value activities within the production facilities. All-Fab is in the process of adopting robotic technologies for the sorting and stacking of machined roof truss components as part of their effort to automate their factories. This requires a careful evaluation of specific robotic solutions and tooling options to guarantee successful implementation. All-fab has identified a specific labour-intensive process of interest for this technology evaluation project. The complexity brought about by the widely varying sizes of the truss components, the volume of parts involved and the dependency of the process on preceding machining activities make it especially suited for automation at this time. There is currently a significant knowledge gap on how this automation could be implemented. Therefore, All-Fab requested to collaborate with the Technology Access Centre for Aerospace and Manufacturing (TACAM) at Red River College Polytechnic (RRC Polytech) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the required robotic technologies. This will include evaluation of the robotic process using virtual programming and simulation, machine vision alternatives, robot-machine communications, human-machine interface and design recommendations. The TACAM team has the experience and expertise to support All-Fab's automation effort. The team will deploy capabilities in robotics programming, sensors integration, instrumentation and control, mechanical design and project management to deliver this project. Through this project, All-Fab will have an opportunity to evaluate and de-risk key robotic technologies before investing in the actual implementation. The company has the capacity to implement and further advance the research results for productivity improvement, gaining of competitive edge and driving their profitability. This project is important for the design and fabrication of building components for affordable housing in Canada. The College team is looking forward to applying their advanced manufacturing expertise to the building construction industry. The knowledge gained will benefit students/interns, research personnel and faculty and will be useful in future research engagements.