Quasi-static evaluation of a modular and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Cell

Extensive cost, time and effort associated with setting up a production line often inhibits transitioning novel ideas into commercialized products. Sustainable revenue generation in such enterprises requires production in large quantities in order to lower the unit cost, and thus improving the marketability. Although this model has been successful and is being followed by most of the industries today, it also limits the scope for new, non-conventional products; especially in the early stages of development where manufacturing risks are higher. One way of reducing this risk can be through improving the reusability of the manufacturing hardware, thus allowing quick and inexpensive transition among different iterations and even different products with the same set of hardware. In this paper, we present such a novel and revolutionary solution for flexible manufacturing. Consisting of a unique set of hardware and software innovations, our proposed system offers a viable way to low volume manufacturing and low risk prototyping of novel product ideas. Called as the "Modular and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Cell (MRMC)", this proposed system enables quick and easy setting up of a fully automated robotic manipulation and assembly platform, optimized for specific products. The system relies on a novel and proprietary multifunctional interconnect design, built-in to various hardware modules of the system, and a distributed intelligence based self-locating software architecture to achieve almost any possible assembler configuration that is suitable for a specific set of tasks. Necessary and sufficient precision level is maintained via a novel precision optimized hybrid controller and path planner throughout the automation. Competitive specifications in terms of travel range, resolution, accuracy, repeatability, force output, size, weight, power ratings etc., as compared to standard commercial manipulators, has been experimentally verified for the proposed Modular and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Cell (MRMC).