Human or Industrial Robots

BackgroundA sustainable energy system based on renewables, energy-efficiency, decentralisation of energy generation and synergies between different sectors requires new energy planning methods and policies. Energy transition and climate change mitigation achievement can no longer be seen only through top-down activities from a national government. Local and regional governments have a crucial role in delivering public policies relevant to such endeavour. Therefore, the implementation of multilevel governance (MLG) has become a priority for fostering local and regional development more inclusively. Paper analyses the existing energy planning governance in Austria throughout the MLG structure by focusing on the alignment between the local energy and climate initiatives and the national and EU goals. Also, the paper examined the effectiveness of the current MLG structures and outlined the fields where improvements are needed. The successfulness of the MLG approach is shown on Judenburg city case study. Desk research is enhanced by a series of interviews with energy policy experts and implementation of case study measures in TIMES model.ResultsThe MLG analysis showed the solid alignment of different governance levels. In contrast, the comparison of the energy and climate initiatives on the local level outlined recommendations for the design of more effective energy planning approach. Four areas of action are identified for further improvement: territorial fragmentation, data availability, spatial energy planning and new integrated MLG. The remaining non-conventional biomass potential of the Murtal region is enough to increase the share of district heating for the residential buildings of the Judenburg city from 16.3 to 30.8% while the building refurbishment increases district heating share to 32%.ConclusionApplication of MLG analysis demonstrated the alignment of energy targets in Austrian policy on different governance levels. The general willingness of Austrian municipalities to take part in local energy actions was shown through the local initiatives’ analysis. It is argued that strengthening the listed areas of work is necessary to raise the effectiveness of the local initiatives. The case study for the city of Judenburg developed in the TIMES model confirmed that coordinated actions from different levels of governance lead to effective implementation of measures.

Implementation of a Vision-Based Worker Assistance System in Assembly: a Case Study

Current solutions for industrial manufacturing assembly systems do not suit the needs of mass customization industry, which is facing low production volumes, many variants and rapidly changing conditions. This paper proposes the concept of self-organizing evolvable assembly systems, where assembly system modules and product parts to be assembled self-organize and self-adapt (among others, choose their coalition partners, their location and monitor themselves) in order to easily and quickly produce a new or reconfigured assembly system each time a new product order arrives or each time a failure or weakness arises in the current assembly system. This paper presents the design and partial implementation of such a system following an architecture for self-organizing and self-adaptive systems based on policies enforced at run-time on the basis of collected and updated metadata. As a case study, the assembly of a adhesive tape roller dispenser is considered.

Flexible Assembly Systems - Hardware Components and Features: Basic components of a FAS.- Classification of flexible assembly systems.- Examples of industrial installations.- Issues in Design, Planning and Scheduling of Flexible Assembly: FAS design issues.- Network design for material flow systems.- Design for assembly.- Assembly planning.- Planning and scheduling.- Loading and Routing Decisions in Flexible Assembly Systems: Description of a flexible assembly system.- Optimization of station workloads and product movements.- Design and balancing of flexible assembly lines.- Numerical examples.- Simultaneous loading and routing.- Sequential loading and routing.- Loading and Routing Decisions with Assembly Plan Selection: Simultaneous loading, routing and assembly plan selection in a general flexible assembly system.- Simultaneous loading, routing and assembly plan selection in a flexible assembly line.- Loading and Scheduling in Flexible Assembly Cells: Loading and scheduling in a robot assembly cell.- Loading and sequencing in printed circuit board assembly.- Production Scheduling in Flexible Assembly Lines: Flexible assembly line with limited intermediate buffers.- Flexible assembly line with no in-process buffers.- Global lower bounds for flexible flow lines with unlimited buffers.- Just-in-time scheduling of flexible assembly lines.- Multilevel scheduling of flexible assembly lines with limited intermediate buffers.- Machine and Vehicle Scheduling in Flexible Assembly Systems: Dispatching scheduling.- Machine and vehicle scheduling - a multi-level approach.- Machine and vehicle scheduling - a single-level approach.

Companies are increasingly being forced by market demands to increase the competitiveness of their products in regard to price, quality and delivery time. Development, both of product and production, is the key word in achieving this goal. This paper focuses on the following related subject: cost-effective design, with applications to robotic assembly cells. Against this background, a total productivity model is introduced, which allows an opinion to be formed about the performance of robotic assembly cells during the conceptual stage of the design process.

In the global pursuit of climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation, effective leadership from public decision-makers is paramount. While national strategies outline overarching plans, successful execution hinges mainly on local public authority initiatives toward the adoption of sustainable practices by local stakeholders in their activities. In rural areas, the agricultural sector is of a primary interest to contribute both to the climate and ecological emergency by adopting innovative agri-environmental practices such as extended riparian strip at the edge of crops field. Our research illustrates the core decision-making challenges that lie in arbitrating between the public cost of a buffer strip project lead by a municipality in collaboration with local farmers and the anticipated benefits, both environmental (riparian restauration, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions and others ecosystem services) and economics (harvested biomass revenues, carbon market). To operationalize a buffer strip, we first review the various assessment approaches of the expected benefits from similar conservation project with GHG protocols and ecosystem services valuation. Then, we introduce a case study of such municipal-famers projects and emphasize the dependence of the project to government financial support. We delve into the parameters of our assessment model of this case study, including time horizon, costs, revenues, and the presence of a public grant. Preliminary numerical results, such as breakeven analysis and the determination of the ecosystem service value, are presented, underscoring the complexity of decision-making in sustainable initiatives at the intersection of economic, environmental, and socio-ecological considerations.

Flexible Automated Assembly Systems for Large CFRP-structures

In this paper, we propose the scheduling methodology for a multirobot assembly cell, which is then integrated into a simulation environment. Since modeling a multirobot assembly system is difficult and tedious, a systematic method is proposed to transfer the AND/OR product assembly graph and the domain knowledge to assembly rules. Given this rule-base knowledge, an inference engine first generates all possible subsequent assembly tasks, and then a search algorithm finds the optimal ones. These promising tasks thus become the operation commands assigned to the assembly system. A simulation environment of a two-robot assembly cell is built and an experiment is performed using the proposed scheduling strategy. Satisfactory performance has been demonstrated.

The modeling of assembly processes and systems is shown in order to develop solutions in conditions of uncertainty. The concept of a fuzzy set, membership functions of fuzzy sets and operations with fuzzy sets are given. Fuzzy modeling of assembly processes and systems in conditions of uncertainty is considered. The implementation of the selective assembly of critical units based on intelligent systems is presented.

In Line Balancing principles, the total workload in the assembly process is divided as evenly as possible among the workstations, without violating the sequences and relations in the assembly operations. Line balancing is important in an assembly system as it balances the line and increases the efficiency, as well as the productivity of a system. A case study was conducted in the assembly line of an electrical accessories manufacturer in Malaysia. The cycle time for each station was recorded, and the standard cycle time was estimated. The productivity, as well as the efficiency of the current assembly line, were studied. In terms of the productivity, the performance of the current systems was 500 units/worker/day, while the expected productivity was 600 units/worker/day. An assembly line setting was proposed based on the Line Balancing Method; the productivity for the proposed line increased to 671 units/worker/day, or in rough additional increase around 34%.

Consideration of the learning effect in the comparison of Fixed Worker and Walking Worker assembly systems

As automotive assembly systems become more complex every year, use of computer aided technology in planning stage is common. Every change in assembly system or assembly line must be validated by software engineering department so the transition in changes are smooth and without unexpected problems. Assembly systems especially in automotive industry must be easy to adjust for new production. Companies in automotive industry, especially manufacturers of final cars have production lines for several versions of one car or even for different car models. This means that production systems are complex and must be balanced for work with different set ups. Time and work flow are essential things in production lines in automotive industry. That is the reason for software solutions like Tecnomatix. Implementation of new assembly parameters are calculated by software. Looking for bottlenecks or errors in assembly processes is easier in well-made virtual models of production lines and it also faster solution. In this article will be mentioned software solutions for this kind of processes. Basic work of software will be demonstrated in example made in Tecnomatix Plant Simulate and Tecnomatix Process Simulate from company SIEMENS. Examples made in these software packages will be aimed on automotive assembly respectively production lines. Also, simulation of production robotic workplaces will be mentioned in example with use of Tecnomatix Process Simulate. As welding robotic stations in automotive production systems are essentials of whole production. Robotic stations are high investment workplaces, so it is only understanding that simulation of such robotic workplaces is needed. Use of discrete simulation software for production simulation purposes is bigger every year and it will continue in future as well. Future of assembly planning will be discussed towards the end of article.

Research on digital twin framework for customized product manual assembly systems

This study describes the application of the develop ed model to the scheduling of the Robotic Flexible Assembly Cells (RFACs). The present study is a continuation of the paper titled “Development of a Fuzz ySimulation Model of Scheduling Robotic Flexible Assembly Cells”. This new model for multi-objective scheduling problems in RFACs was based on combining a fuzzy-based mathematical model with simulation software tools. In this study, a hypothetical case study of RFACs is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed model and then compare the results that are obtained by the new methodology with the common scheduling rules. The simulation results show that the performance of the proposed methodology outperforms the most popular scheduling rules from previous research.

Product variety and manufacturing complexity in assembly systems and supply chains