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Abstract
Current manufacturing environments have to face a competitive and evolving framework characterised by high-mix and low-volume demands. To properly deal with new requests coming from the market, Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RASs) have to be designed. In this paper, we propose a methodology for the design of the architecture of a RAS, featuring both human and mobile robotic agents, and dealing with multi-product assembly of medium-light-weight products, originally assembled manually. In particular, a systematic methodology is proposed to define the number of workstations, specifying which set of operations must be performed in each one, and to design the system layout guaranteeing reconfigurability. To this end, the concepts of operation, datasheet of an operation, assembly tree, and macro-operation are introduced and formalised. Guidelines to automatise the required operations in a flexible way are also proposed. The method is applied to a use case where we define the proper number of workstations of a RAS to assemble several types of motorbike brakes, showing the reconfigurability of the system.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Camozzi Group SpA for motivating and supporting this project and Marco Maiocchi for his help in formalising the use case.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Andrea Monguzzi
Andrea Monguzzi was born in Monza (Italy) in 1996. He received his Master's degree cum laude in Automation and Control engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2020, and his PhD in Information Technology (Doctor Europaeus) at Politecnico di Milano in the field of robotics and industrial automation in March 2024. From November 2023, he is a Research Fellow at Politecnico di Milano in the field of robotics. His research focuses on the robotic manipulation of deformable linear objects.
Andrea Maria Zanchettin
Andrea Maria Zanchettin was born in Cremona (Italy) in 1983. He received his PhD in Information Technology, with honour, from Politecnico di Milano in 2012. From January 2012 until February 2014 he has been a temporary research assistant at the Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria (DEIB). From March 2014 until September 2019 he has been a fixed-term assistant professor at DEIB where he is now a tenured Associate Professor. His research interests are about mechatronic systems, automatic control, and intelligent human-robot interaction. Andrea Zanchettin has been member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society since 2009. Since 2017, he has been co-founder and co-chair of the IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Collaborative Automation for Flexible Manufacturing (CAFM).
Dr. Zanchettin has been chair of the Italian Chapter of the IEEE RAS (I-RAS) from 2019 until 2022, as well as vice president for industrial activities of the Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-RIM). He is also co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of Smart Robots, a spin-off company of Politecnico di Milano.
Paolo Rocco
Paolo Rocco is a Full Professor in automatic control and robotics with the Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. He is also a Co-Founder of Smart Robots, a spin-off company of Politecnico di Milano. He has authored about 200 papers in the areas of robotics, motion control, and mechatronics.His current research interests include industrial robotics, with a particular focus on safe and productive human-robot interaction.
Dr. Rocco has served in various positions in the editorial boards of journals and conferences. At present, he serves as a Senior Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and as an Associate Editor for other journals. He serves in the Board of Directors of euRobotics, the association of all stakeholders in robotics in Europe, in the Board of Directors of I-RIM, the Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines, and in the Board of Governors of Politecnico di Milano. He is also head of the Systems and Control area at Politecnico di Milano and responsible for projects in MADE, the Industry 4.0 Competence Center in Milan. He has been in charge of several research projects with industrial partners and public bodies.