Virtual reality environment for industrial robot control and path design

Abstract

The current market trends have focused on personalization, where products based on the same platform can have different variations so they can satisfy multiple market segments. Trying to keep up with these trends, industries have introduced hybrid Human Robot Collaborative stations that offer short throughput times, along with the flexibility to process different tasks. For this kind of flexibility to be achieved in production, a concept is examined for remotely reprograming industrial robots. As a result, a fully automated assembly line or a production station, could be repurposed to handle different products or processes, using the currently installed equipment with minor adjustments. The concept that is described in this paper presents a teleoperation – based method for process design and control of industrial robots utilizing Virtual Reality. The main aim is to reduce the time and effort required for repurposing the robot operation without the physical presence of a robot operator at the shop floor. A case study is presented to demonstrate the above described concept.