In the manufacturing factories, there are many working processes dealing with deformable objects, and automation of such working processes is strongly required. However, since manipulating deformable objects by a robot is difficult in general, the introduction of the robot has not progressed much. As an example of such works, inserting rubber hose is present. In this paper, the end-effectors for robotization of rubber hose insertion is developed, and manipulation planning for robot arms is proposed. The effectiveness of proposed method is experimentally shown.
A possibility of artificial fabrication of ceramic model tooth which has a machinability similar to natural human tooth was experimentaly discussed. Comparison among many physical properties and the machinability of ceramic model tooth with the natural human tooth showed that such a model tooth can be made artificially. Then important factors were pointed out, i.e., (1) proper combination and blending of raw materials for ceramic commercial porcelain, and (2) proper controlling of firing temperature for densification.
In the previous paper, we used a semiconductor laser and a position sensing detector(PSD) to measure two DOF position of spherical ultrasonic motor(SUSM) and the effectiveness was confirmed. However, we have not realized three DOF position detection and control. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a new spherical rotor with two built-in semiconductor lasers to measure three DOF position of SUSM. Experiments are examined and the precision of the system is investigated.
Many processes involve the manipulation of easily deformable objects such as food and cloth products, and the automation of such processes is required. However, there are still many challenges in pick-and-place, assembly and handling those objects using industrial robots. The insertion task involved in the formation of rubber hoses is an example of such a task. In this study, to automate the rubber hose insertion task, a preliminary investigation of friction force that affects the insertion task was examined and it was found that the air injection into the hose was effective to reduce the friction force. Based on the result, an air injection robotic hand (AIR-Hand) and a hose buckling preventing hand (HELP-Hand) were developed for a dual-arm robot. Furthermore, we integrated those two end effectors into one for a single-arm robot. The hose insertion task was successfully performed by both the dual-arm and single-arm robots, along with their corresponding manipulation plans.
An impedance model following force control, using a position/orientation compensator based on joystick taught data, is proposed for an industrial robot with an open architecture controller. The method is characterized by two requirements: 1) to polish an object with the desired contact force and orientation; and 2) no conventional complicated teaching process is required. The effectiveness and potential of the proposed method are demonstrated through some experiments concerning with a polishing task using the JS-10 industrial robot.
