Silvia Oana ANTON

Title: Integrating Multi-Robot Systems Equipped with Artificial Vision in Intelligent Assembly/Disassembly Structures

Supervisor: Professor Theodor BORANGIU

Final presentation in 2008

The PhD thesis is oriented in the direction of multi-robot systems control and especially integration of industrial robots equipped with artificial vision in flexible manufacturing systems to execute assembly/disassembly tasks. The field of applicability of such solution include not only the field of industrial robots but also many other fields such numeric milling machines, flexible transportation systems, and video quality control systems.

This thesis was developed following two main objectives. First objective is the theoretical underline of what means ARTIFICIAL VISION SYSTEMS used in robotics and here I refer to choosing and integrating the components which compose a visual inspection environment integrated with robot systems, but also to the means for development of mechanical features used for recognition and robotized assembly. For this reason the features of mechanical forms have been analyzed, resulting design criteria for visual recognition based on features. Also, methods for automated visual inspection (final and after each step on the fabrication line) in the assembly lines based on visual tools have been studied, developed and implemented.

The second main objective presented in this thesis is the MULTITASKING CONTROL of multi-robot systems where production control methods in robotized flexible manufacturing systems have been presented. Thereby we will find in this thesis approaches of those concepts: obstacle avoidance methods, dynamic robot target alteration methods, but also robot cooperation methods and development of high availability structures in robotics.

The proposed theme brings first of all contributions in the field of fundamental research – by developing selection criteria for resources and attributes of systems integrated in flexible manufacturing cells in order to monitor the cell and designing monitoring, detection and event treatment methods and software instruments, and also by synthesis of a new intelligent control architecture for robotized flexible manufacturing systems with the disposal of the single points of failure in order to obtain an uninterruptible production flow.

In the field of applicative research, the thesis is relevant by using advanced software technologies in order to monitor the events of interest, failures treatment and dynamic reconfiguration of assembly/disassembly systems, but also in order to create new methods for production flow processing for products which are processed in multiple technological steps.