Robotics in FMS & CIM

Manufacturing organization increasingly face unpredictable demands for customized & complex products without defects that they have to produce in small quantities, under time-based competition, & at low cost. Moreover, technological innovations & developments constantly create new opportunities in this competitive environment.

Until very recently, CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) was the magic formula for successful flexible automation of the world’s factories. CIM aims at the comprehensive integration, by means of computers, of all stages of the manufacturing cycle. CIM is an applied enterprise-wide philosophy underlying the automation of the information flow, from the product order, via design, production, & delivery, up to maintenance & quality control.

An FMS (Flexible Manufacturing System) is only a part of the CIM concept. An FMS is a programmable production system consisting of a set of automatic workstations mutually connected by material handling systems (transport systems) & governed by a mostly hierarchical control system. FMS can be considered the “hands” of the CIM system; it enables the realization of the CIM concept on the shop floor. As such, FMS is the least automated bottleneck between the highly automated information flows & the very flexible manufacturing processes.

As far as flexibility is concerned, transportation forms one of the most notorious bottlenecks in typical FMS. High expectations were created by researchers: the flexibility problem in transport functions would be solved by the development of industrial robots, AGVs, & the like. The outcome of all those research effort has been rather deceiving, however. Difficult interface problems, insurmountable so far, have prevented the smooth introduction of robotics into FMS. The most notorious problem lies in the interface of the robot with the parts to be handled. Universal grippers are still inaccessible, notwithstanding the considerable progress in research on artificial hands, grasp planning, etc. The uncertainty in the robot environment (inaccurately positioned parts) is another cause of problems, reducing the overall system flexibility. External sensors, such as vision, force, & tactile sensors, are used to resolve the problem, but the developed solutions are not generic so far. The way the transport flexibility problem is solved in modern FMS is by the use of standardized pallet systems. The parts are mounted manually on the pallets, eventually using standardized modular clamping tools. The pallets themselves have standardized mechanical interfaces so that they can be freely interchanged between different workstations by the use of AGVs or conveyor systems. ...Learn more?