Integration of force sensing for robotic generic assembly

A force sensor was integrated into a robotic cell and the sensor data was made available in real-time for the robotic arm. Integration of the extra sensory data was done through an external supervisory computer system that was developed as a generic controller to the robotic arm. The supervisory computer system was implemented using transputer modules running parallel processes and programmed in C programming language. The generic assembly meant that the robot arm used, an ADEPT using Val II as a programming language, was used in a very basic form whereby the required task was split up into more fundamental operations of feed transport and mate as proposed by Selke [1]. Manipulators often have programming languages which apply to only a specific brand or type of manipulator, in fact this is the problem that has led to the need of a generic controller for assembly. The generic controller was designed to achieve the necessary assembly task irrespective of the specific manipulator programming language. Testing of the developed hardware and software was performed on both a toy car assembly system and a peg in hole setup. Both testing setups were successfully assembled using real time force data. The insertion force traces for the peg in hole tests is reported here. Further development in intelligent assembly using statistical methods is also proposed.