The study of a passive accommodation device in robotic insertion processes

Abstract Human involvement in part assembly is successful, however, problems of monotony in manual assembly tasks are considerable. Robotic assembly combines the flexibility of human assembly with the uniform performance and efficiency of hard automation, but is not exclusive of faults and problems. The development of a passive remote centre compliance (RCC) device assisting a ‘peg-in-hole’ assembly task is the focus of this research. An RCC permits assembly operations by a rigid manipulator, even if misalignment is present. The aim of our research is to combine the theoretical aspects of part mating (e.g. forces, moments, etc.) with the practical aspects that deal with the equipment used (e.g. robot, RCC, controller program etc.). A purpose built gantry robot, to act as a test platform to explore significant variables such as chamfer depth, insertion force and speed, and part geometry was designed. The data accrued will be used to investigate the mathematical relationships for part assembly developed and reported by Whitney [ASME J. Dyn. Syst. Measurement Control 104 (1) (1982) 65]. The imperfections inherent in the ‘real world’ parameters of the kinematics which define the robot are integrated with existing theoretical models to yield a true mathematical representation of spatial position and force for a simple assembly task.