Development of a best-fit algorithm for feature based assembly

Abstract

Traditionally, domestic water pump assembly is often carried out manually using dedicated fixed systems. These are inflexible, have long manufacturing lead time and can lead to capital bottlenecks. One way of introducing flexibility is by incorporating robots. Background literature suggested that there has been limited work on the use of flexible robot-based assembly applications. But they all required sophisticated expensive software and hardware for their implementation. The paper ismainly focus on the development of best fit algorithms for feature based assembly and a process of proving the feasibility of robotic assembly applications. This research, feature-based assembly technique was used as the main method for the assembly of the components since a feature contains much more information than just geometry. A metrology system was used to locate the component and measure the position of the assembly features before assembly. Similarly, the metrology system was used to locate features on the counter part. The acquired data was processed using a mathematical algorithm to calculate the relative component positions required for optimal assembly. The data can also be used to check for the quality of the components and to reject those outside the specification limits. The paper demonstrates that with a combination of metrology and mathematical processing algorithms can be used for the assembly of water pump components within the tolerances limits. The developed system is flexible and reconfigurable due to reduce reliance of fixtures.