On completion of this module along with previous knowledge gained, the student should have a very good understanding of the theory, equipment and implementation methods of modern automation systems and should be able to work autonomously in such an environment.
Robotics: Specifications of industrial robots: degrees of freedom, co-ordinate systems, repeatability, accuracy, control resolution, working envelope, payload, tool centre point etc. Robot types: Cartesian, cylindrical, spherical, SCARA. Selection of drive and effectors and sensors. Control of robotic devices, path planning, incremental control, continuous path, servo control, closed loop systems. Mobile robotics: applications & positioning strategies. Automatically Guided Vehicles (AGVs). Overview of flexible manufacturing robot work cells and vision guided robotic motion.
Automated Materials Handling: Materials handling equipment types and numerical analysis: conveyors, indexers, walking beams, bowl feeders, orienting mechanism, indexing mechanisms, transfer mechanisms. Materials retrieval systems.
Production Operations: Analysis and description of automated production line schemes: in-line, segmented in-line and rotary. Design for manufacturing, automated assembly design rules and methods. Flexible manufacturing systems. CE marking of equipment, risk assessments, safety controls & interlocks.
Manufacturing Networks, Data Capture & Processing: Hierarchy of networks in manufacturing information systems and automation network types. Part tracking, automatic data capture, barcode technologies, RFID technology and information processing in manufacturing.
Introduction to Industrial Vision Systems: Solid-state image sensors, basic optical and lighting techniques, image acquisition hardware, image processing and feature extraction, application areas and case studies.
