Engineering Commons^™

Productivity And Quality Evaluation In Assembly Using Collaborative Robots, Carlos F. Manzanares Vega

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In Industry 4.0, various technologies have been applied to achieve automation for traditional manufacturing and practices. For this reason, Smart Manufacturing (SM) environments utilize collaborative robots for process optimization by integrating the Internet of Things (IoT). Cobots are equipped with sensors and/or other devices to be able to transmit data in real-time while performing their tasks. Consequently, such SM implementations improves the decision making and business development, such as supply chain and operations, by sharing real-time data from a plant operational level. The collaborative robots are also designed to safely interact and collaborate with humans to perform tasks and optimize …

Design And Control Of Next-Generation Uavs For Effectively Interacting With Environments, Caiwu Ding

Dissertations

In this dissertation, the design and control of a novel multirotor for aerial manipulation is studied, with the aim of endowing the aerial vehicle with more degrees of freedom of motion and stability when interacting with the environments. Firstly, it presents an energy-efficient adaptive robust tracking control method for a class of fully actuated, thrust vectoring unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with parametric uncertainties including unknown moment of inertia, mass and center of mass, which would occur in aerial maneuvering and manipulation. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through simulation. Secondly, a humanoid robot arm is adopted to serve as …

The Implementation Of Advanced Digitalization In The Oil And Gas Industry, Ensieh Rezafar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe immature advanced digitalization in the oil and gas industry can limit access to the potential value of mature progressive digitalization. Oil and gas leaders must expedite the implementation of advanced digitalization to increase organizational proficiencies and reduce costs and losses. Grounded in Pettigrew and Whipp’s dimensions of strategic change theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders in the oil and gas industry used to implement advanced digitalization. The participants were seven leaders in two oil service companies in North America involved in the successful implementation of progressive digitalization. Data were collected …

Design Of Plastic Contaminant Eliminator In Seed Cotton, Joshua H. Tandio

Theses and Dissertations

Plastic contamination in cotton is a problem in cotton industry and researchers have worked on this problem with different approaches. This thesis documents the design of mechanical and electronic real-time systems for detecting and removing plastic contaminants. The mechanical system was designed to expose plastic embedded inside the seed cotton to the sensor and to separate plastic contaminated cotton from the process stream. The detection system consisted of an embedded computer interfaced with a USB camera and Neural Network (NN) software running in it. Two NN models were tested, a transfer learning model and a built-from-scratch original model. The original …

Learning State-Dependent Sensor Measurement Models To Improve Robot Localization Accuracy, Troi André Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a novel method called state-dependent sensor measurement models (SDSMMs). Such models dynamically predict the state-dependent bias and uncertainty of sensor measurements, ultimately improving fundamental robot tasks such as localization. In our first investigation, we introduced the state-dependent sensor measurement model framework, described their properties, stated the input and output of these models, and described how to train them. We also explained how to integrate such models with an Extended Kalman Filter and a Particle Filter, two popular robot state estimation algorithms. We validated the proposed framework through a series of localization tasks. The results showed that our …

Automated Bottling Station - Packaging System, Lauren Nicole Zinzilieta

Honors College Theses

This report focuses on the packaging system used at the end of the FESTO bottling station that is located in EP 2355. The system will be made up of an x-y 300 mm x 300 mm gantry system, an Arduino, two micro-stepping stepper drivers, and two 152.4 mm (6 in) single acting cylinders with a 3D printed bracket attached to both. The gantry system will be located at the end of the conveyor belt and will be programmed to pick up three bottles at a time and then will move a specified number of steps in both the x and …

Integration Of Robotic And Electro-Pneumatic Systems Using Advanced Control And Communication Schemes, Chinmay Kondekar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Modern industrial automation systems are designed by interconnecting various subsystems which work together to perform a process. The thesis project aims to integrate fragmented subsystems into a flexible and reconfigurable system through advanced communication protocols and perform a process to demonstrate the effectiveness of interconnected systems.

The system consists of three six-axis robots, one electro-pneumatic robot, and two conveyors connected using EthernetIP communication and hardwired connections. The interconnected system works together to perform machining of a workpiece using advanced control methods of CAD to robot path generation, central control through a PLC, and process control through HMI.

Standardized programming blocks …

Open-Source Tig-Based Metal 3d-Printing, Shane Oberloier

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Metal 3-D printing has been relegated to high-cost proprietary high-resolution systems and low-resolution low-cost metal inert gas (MIG) systems. In order to provide a path to high-resolution, low-cost, metal 3-D printing, this manuscript proposes a new open source metal 3-D printer design based around a low-cost tungsten inert gas (TIG) welder coupled to a commercial open source self replicating rapid prototyper. Optimal printing parameters for the machine are acquired using a novel computational intelligence software. TIG has many advantages over MIG, such as having a low heat input, clean beads, and the potential for both high-resolution prints as well as …

Tram System Automation For Environmental Spectroscopy And Vegetation Monitoring, Enrique Anguiano Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Spectroscopy is the science of studying the interactions of matter and electromagnetic radiation (EMR). In particular, field spectroscopy takes place in a natural environment with a natural source of EMR. The paper presents progress towards the development and automation of a tram cart system. The new system in development collects high resolution, hyperspectral images and data from a spectrometer. Alternatives for a sensor cover mechanism to provide cover for the sensors mounted while the system is not operating are discussed, analyzing and comparing the benefits and disadvantages. An implementation for a charging station in an environment isolated from the electric …

Design And Creation Of A System Of Machines To Automate Quality Control Processes For Atms, Miguel D. Pedrozo

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

This project is based around the quality control processes used to test ATMs. Currently, a person will manually run through each function of the ATM in order to find modes of failure. As the case with all repetitive jobs, it is an unwanted task and is simple enough to be automated. The new solution I propose allows for a system of devices to operate the functions of the ATM autonomously with little to no human intervention. Additionally, this solution is more reliable when diagnosing a problem as it will eventually communicate with the ATM directly in a closed loop system …

Robotic Automation Of A Cnc Machine, Jace Hovey

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Robotic automation of CNC machines is becoming more popular as robot technology advances and becomes more readily available. While some CNC machines can run autonomously with part catchers, vertical milling centers require an external entity to keep the machine running. Collaborative and Industrial robots are the two main selections for automating a vertical CNC milling machine. We investigate specifically which robot type is most effective for machine tending a Haas VF2 vertical milling center. To do this a cell floor plan, risk assessment, overall equipment effectiveness evaluation, and a total cost analysis are performed to compare robots. With this results …

Collaborative Robotic Path Planning For Industrial Spraying Operations On Complex Geometries, Steven Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Implementation of automated robotic solutions for complex tasks currently faces a few major hurdles. For instance, lack of effective sensing and task variability – especially in high-mix/low-volume processes – creates too much uncertainty to reliably hard-code a robotic work cell. Current collaborative frameworks generally focus on integrating the sensing required for a physically collaborative implementation. While this paradigm has proven effective for mitigating uncertainty by mixing human cognitive function and fine motor skills with robotic strength and repeatability, there are many instances where physical interaction is impractical but human reasoning and task knowledge is still needed. The proposed framework consists …

Automated Foosball Table, Jim R. Stefani, Alex J. Herpy, Brett Gordon Jaeger, Kevin S. Haydon, Derek Alan Hamel

Mechanical Engineering

This project is the second iteration of an automated foosball table for Yaskawa America as a trade show display. The table is meant to provide an interactive experience which highlights the speed and precision of the Yaskawa hardware. The first iteration of the project was mainly focused on creating the physical hardware for the system and to begin the basic programming for the system. This phase of the project was focused on finalizing the physical hardware of the system, implementing the vision system and to continue the basic programing of the system AI. A third team will be assigned to …