Remanufatura de manipuladores robóticos industriais utilizando arquitetura aberta

Abstract

Currently, an increasing number of robotic manipulators are discarded on factory floor because they are classified as unserviceable equipment, while still being able to be re-used. This problem occurs due to the fact that robot manufacturers use fully closed architecture control to their hardware and software systems. Thus, there is no interchangeability between the control cabinets and the programming languages used to generate kinematics, which make the repairs, modifications and implementations to system more expensive, due to these processes dependent of each manufacturer. In this context, this work proposes a new methodology to the remanufacturing of industrial robotic anipulators. This new methodology proposes a new concept called overhauling, in which only the mechanical structure of the robot is re-used, making the remanufacturing process faster and more reliable when compared to other processes such as retrofitting. The overhauling process proposes a fully open architecture control. Thus, the hardware devices are interchangeable with other processes and the programming language can be substituted. To validate this new methodology proposed, the ASEA IRB6-S2 robot overhauling was performed. This way, the remanufacturing proved to be a very feasible solution for the recycling of robots, because the manipulator IRB6-S2 showed good accuracy and repeatability at a greatly reduced cost compared to a new robot with similar characteristics.