Industrial robots are commonly used to perform picking, packaging, product assembly, welding and painting tasks in many industries including automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical and consumer goods. Robotic simulation is the use of commercially available and custom software solutions to virtually program and optimize robotic systems. As industrial robots become increasingly significant in modern manufacturing, so too has the need to quickly design, specify and implement robotic systems.
Learn more about robotic simulation at Wikipedia.
Grasping and Welding Robotic System
In this example a simulation is developed to analyze a grasping robot on a manufacturing line. The robot is programmed to grasp rigid containers moving down a conveyor, follow a specified path, and place the container in a target location. The simulation was used to improve the robot design and verify the movement algorithms. A welding robot is also simulated; using the software’s inverse kinematics capabilities, the robot applied welds to a production component.
The robotic simulation enabled the industrial engineering team to accurately evaluate and optimize manufacturing processes months before physical implementation. Kinetic Vision's Virtual Product Placement technology allowed production management, safety teams and production personnel to visualize the functioning system in its actual use environment through the use of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). Being able to visualize the functioning robot in its actual planned location helped eliminate unforeseen clearance issues that occurred from deviations in the as-built facility construction.
This short animation show robotic simulation in action. Two processes are presented: pick and place and welding.
