What are the general characteristics of industrial work situ

What are the general characteristics of industrial work situations that promote the substitution of robots for human workers? What is the difference between powered leadthrough and manual leadthrough in robot programming? Please describe the advantages and disadvantages of leadthrough programming.

Solution

(a)

The general characteristics of industrial work situations that promote the substitution of robots for human workers are :-

(b)

The difference between the powered leadthrough and manual leadthrough is the manner in which the manipulator is moved through the motion cycle during programming. Powered leadthrough involves the use of a teach pendant with toggle switches and contact buttons for controlling the movement of the manipulator joints.

Using the toggle switches or buttons, the programmer power drives the robot arm to the desired position, in sequence, and records the position into memory. Manual leadthrough requires the operator to physically grasp the end-of-arm of the tool that is attached to the arm and move it through the motion sequence, recording the path into memory.

(c)

The advantage of leadthrough programming is that it does not require the knowledge of computer programming and can readily be learned by the shop personnel. This is the most logical way to teach a robot.

The disadvantages of leadthrough programming are that the downtime-regular production must be interrupted to program the robot. It is not very compatible with modern computer-based technologies. Also, the programming logic capability is limited.