Modulär Lättvikts-Robotik
- Diarienummer
- SM11-0031
- Start- och slutdatum
- 120101-131231
- Beviljat belopp
- 834 400 kr
- Förvaltande organisation
- Mälardalen University, Västerås
- Forskningsområde
- Materialvetenskap och materialteknologier
Summary
Robotics and automation have played a strategic role in manufacturing since half of the twentieth century. Today the competition at the global level ifs very tough, and the modern industries are identifying a clear trend towards more sustainable, flexible and cost efficient solutions, especially with respect to robotized processes. According to the European Robotics Technology Platform (EUROP) strategic research agenda (07/2009), lightweight robotics in manufacturing has been identified as one of the key factor to guarantee flexibility and cost savings, with huge impacts on the energy consumption. ABB, as one the biggest players in the robotics field, is not ignoring the new trend, that opens up new markets and new robot concepts, so the R&D is moving towards new research directions, and new academic collaborations. The objective of the project is to identify and validate new modular and lightweight solutions to structure the new generations of industrial robots where flexibility and energy saving are the main requirements against the current solutions. The expected results for the project are 1) Identification of the best strategies and methodologies to be used in lightweight and modular robotic structures, 2) Validation of the proposed solutions in terms of selected performance indexes, 3) Design and build one or two physical prototypes to validate the approaches 4) Disseminate the results within ABB and in academia.
Populärvetenskaplig beskrivning
The main idea motivating the project is to identify new strategies to design innovative lightweight industrial robots providing energy efficient solutions to several sectors of the manufacturing market where most of the energy is still used to move the robot itself rather than to accomplish the tasks. Machining, welding, inspecting etc. of large structures (like in the Aerospace/Ship industry) are typical applications in which heavy articulated robots are mounted on tracks and frameworks to move along the workspace with high speed and accelerations and where lightweight robots will give big material and energy savings.