Third challenge within the CoLLaboratE is LCD TV electronic card assembly and screwing operation. The operation consists of two partsnwhich are currently done manually by two different operators. First part of the assembly covers the picking of the electronic cards called power supply unit (PSU) and main board (chassis) from their boxes and placement of them on the TV; while the second part is the screwing of these cards on the TV by 7-8 screws. Electronic cards are the main components of the TV, consisting of all physical connection ports (USB, HDMI, VGA, AUX…), processors, power electronics layer and firmware. Due to their high costs and fragile design, electronic cards require special attention during the assembly stage.
The proposed solution by the CoLLaboratE project will consist of the following steps:
- Replacement of Operator 1 with a collaborative robot
- Enhancing the robot safety with specially designed sensors/robot skin
- Integration of vision system to detect electronic cards within the boxes ESD protected gripper design for electronic card handling
- Conveyor tracking algorithm for card placement on the TV Gesture recognition for seamless communication between the COBOT & operator & AGV
- AGV adaptation for electronic card feeding, from warehouse to the assembly line
- Ergonomic risk assessment of the current manual operation will also be analyzed to be able to measure the improvement after CoLLaboratE solution.
- Improving the overall operator health and safety is another aspect of the project.
The electronic card assembly operation is one example of many similar operations in TV production process. There are other operations such as taping, cabling and configuration that are done in a similar way to the electronic card assembly. All these operations require two operators working on the same workpiece at the same time. The solution to be developed within the CoLLaboratE project will be exploited to these operations as well. The human-robot collaboration methodology will be applied to the other production plants of Arçelik for home appliances production.
Starting with the operations that require two operators, CoLLaboratE outputs will be transferred to refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, dryer and electric motor factories of Arçelik worldwide. The electronic card assembly operation is quite suitable to human-robot collaboration due to its workspace and job-sharing nature.
