| 1. |
- Bi, Z.M., et al.
(författare)
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Current Status of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems
- 2007
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Ingår i: International Journal of Manufacturing Research. - : InderScience Publishers. - 1750-0591 .- 1750-0605. ; 2:3, s. 303-328
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) is one of most promising paradigms that provide an effective solution to changes and uncertainties in a competitive manufacturing environment. A Reconfigurable Assembly System (RAS) is a key component of an RMS. In this paper, our survey on the development of RAS has been summarised. The objectives of this literature survey are to: clarify the needs and drivers in developing reconfigurable assembly systems identify both academic and practical issues critical to the development of reconfigurable assembly systems understand the state of the art of R&D related to the studies on the critical issues reveal the future research directions, which are mostly beneficial to manufacturing industries.
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| 2. |
- Bi, Z. M., et al.
(författare)
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Design of a Cobot with Three Omni-Wheels
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing. - : Gemini International Ltd. - 9780956230331 - 9781615676279 ; , s. 360-367
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Collaborative robots (Cobots) have been proposed to guide and assist human operators to move heavy objects in a given trajectory. Most of the existing cobots us steering wheels; typical drawbacks of using steering wheels include (i) the difficulty to follow a trajectory with a curvature larger than that of the base platform, (ii) the difficulty to mount encoders on steering wheels due to self-spinning of the wheels, and (iii) the difficulty to quarantine dynamic control performance since it is purely kinematic control. In this paper, a new cobot with the omni-wheels has been proposed, and its design model has been developed, and a simulation has been conducted to validate this control performance.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Bi, Z.M., et al.
(författare)
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Design of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems with Strongly Coupled Nature
- 2007
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Ingår i: Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering. ; 20:1, s. 91-95
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Today's manufacturing environment forces manufacturing companies to make as many product variations as possible at affordable costs within a short time. Mass customisation is one of most important technologies for companies to achieve their objectives. Efforts to mass customisation should be made on two aspects: (1) To modularize products and make them as less differences as possible; (2) To design manufacturing resources and make them provide as many processes variations as possible. This paper reports our recent work on aspect (2), i.e. how to design a reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) so that it can be competent to accomplish various processes optimally; Reconfigurable robot system (RRS) is taken as an example. RMS design involves architecture design and configuration design, and configuration design is further divided in design analysis and design synthesis. Axiomatic design theory (ADT) is applied to architecture design, the features and issues of RRS configuration design are discussed, automatic modelling method is developed for design analysis, and concurrent design methodology is presented for design synthesis.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Bi, Z. M., et al.
(författare)
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Improved Control and Simulation Models of a Tricycle Collaborative Robot
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing. - : Springer. - 0956-5515 .- 1572-8145. ; 19:6, s. 715-722
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective of collaborative manufacturing is to create the synergism from the collaboration of manufacturing resources. Most of the studied collaborations are made among intelligent machines; however, the collaboration can be realized even between machines and human being, and a collaborative robot (Cobot) belongs to the latter. A cobot is a robot designed to assist human beings as a guide or assistor in a constrained motion. Various prototypes have been developed and the potentials of these robots have been demonstrated. The research presented in this paper focuses on the control and simulation models of a tricycle cobot with three steered wheels, with the following two contributions: (i) A concise model for the closed-loop control is developed. Existing closed-loop control has been implemented in an intuitive way, and some control parameters have to be determined by a trial-and-error method. (ii) A simulation model is proposed to validate the control algorithms. No simulation model is available and the control models of other existing systems have to be validated experimentally. The developed control and simulation models have been implemented. Graphic simulation is also developed. Case studies are provided and the simulation results are analyzed.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Bi, Z. M., et al.
(författare)
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Optimal design of reconfigurable parallel machining systems
- 2009
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Ingår i: Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing. - : Elsevier. - 0736-5845 .- 1879-2537. ; 25:6, s. 951-961
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A reconfigurable machining system is usually a modularized system, and its configuration design concerns the selections of modules and the determination of geometric dimensions in some specific modules. All of its design perspectives from kinematics, dynamics, and control have to be taken into considerations simultaneously, and a multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) tool is required to support the configuration design process. This paper presents a new MDO tool for reconfigurable machining systems, and it includes the following works: (i) the literatures on the computer-aided design of reconfigurable parallel machining systems have been reviewed with a conclusion that the multidisciplinary design optimization is essential, but no comprehensive design tool is available to reconfigurable parallel machining systems; (ii) a class of reconfigurable systems called reconfigurable tripod-based machining system has been introduced, its reconfiguration problem is identified, and the corresponding design criteria have been discussed; (iii) design analysis in all of the disciplines including kinematics, dynamics, and control have been taken into considerations, and design models have been developed to evaluate various design candidates; in particular, the innovative solutions to direct kinematics, stiffness analysis for the design configurations of tripod-based machines with a passive leg, and concise dynamic modelling have been provided; and (iv) A design optimization approach is proposed to determine the best solution from all possible configurations. Based on the works presented in this paper, a computer-aided design and control tool have been implemented to support the system reconfiguration design and control processes. Some issues relevant to the practical implementation have also been discussed.
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| 10. |
- Bi, Z. M., et al.
(författare)
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Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems: The State of the Art
- 2008
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Ingår i: International Journal of Production Research. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0020-7543 .- 1366-588X. ; 46:4, s. 967-992
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, general requirements of next generation manufacturing systems are discussed, and the strategies to meet these requirements are considered. The production paradigms which apply these strategies are also classified. Particular emphasis is put on the paradigm of Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS). Some key issues of the RMS design are discussed, and a critical review is presented concerning the developments of RMSs. Finally, suggestions of the RMS research are made and future research directions are identified.
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