Programming industrial robots

First generation robots have fixed programs and are best suited for repetitive tasks they do not have the ability to adapt to environmental changes. Most industrial robots are first generation. 

Figure 22 Overview of Programming Methods for Industrial Robots.

An industrial robot is a programmable feed back controlled multifunctional device with several axes designed to both manipulate and transport parts, tools, or specialized implements through variable programmed paths to perform specific manufacturing tasks. 

Robots do jobs that are dirty, repetitive, or dangerous for people. It is true that robots replaced some human in these less desirable jobs. However, many new jobs were also created. Robots need to be manufactured, programmed, and serviced. Entire new businesses were developed to support automated manufacturing. There is a growing need for engineering technologists and skilled technicians to program and service industrial robots. 

Robots are often a combination of electrical motors and fluid power (either pneumatic or hydraulic). Most industrial robots are connected to an electrical supply because they are stationary. Robots on wheels must have batteries. The Robomower and Roomba robots described earlier have batteries. When the batteries begin to run low, their program has them return to their base for charging. The NASA robots used to explore Mars had to have powerful batteries that could be recharged from solar panels. 

Industrial robot—A reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. 

Industrial robot system— A system that includes industrial robots, the end-effectors, and the devices and sensors required for the robots to be taught or programmed, or for the robots to perform the intended automatic operations, as well as the communication interfaces required for interlocking, sequencing, or monitoring the robots. 

Automation of the process, as described above, requires the identification of a set series of actions to be carried out by industrial robots. In turn, this requires the appropriate industrial robots be designed and constructed in such a way that the actual physical movements necessary for the task can be carried out. Each robot will incorporate a number of servomechanisms that drive the specific movements of parts of the robot according to the control instruction set. They will also incorporate any number of sensors and transducers that will provide input signal information for the self-regulation of the automated process. This input data may be delivered to the control program and compared to specified standards before it is fed back into the process, or it may be delivered directly into the process for immediate use. 

On the other hand, we were surprised to discover that apparently no thought had been given as to whether a programmer is in the position to push the emergency stop button on the manual programming unit should the Industrial robot malfunction. 

TR R15.106-2006, Technical Report on Teaching Multiple Robots, Robotics Industries Association (RIA) —provides additional safety information relative to teaching (programming) multiple industrial robots in a common safeguarded space in an industrial setting, and supplements the ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 robot safety standard. 

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