Citation details Malik A.A. 2022. Evolution of flexible industrial assembly pre -print arXiv2210.00717 eess.SY . Evolution of flexible industrial assembly

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Citation details: Malik, A.A. (2022). “Evolution of flexible industrial assembly” pre-print, arXiv:2210.00717

[eess.SY].

Evolution of flexible industrial assembly

Ali Ahmad Malik

School of Engineering & Computer Science

Oakland University, Michigan, United States

Email: aliahmadmalik@oakland.edu

Pre-print

Highlights

1. Due to the complexity and variety of assembly tasks, rationalization of manufacturing automation has considerably

remained away from assembly systems.

2. With smart manufacturing technologies such as collaborative robots, additive manufacturing, and digital twins, the

opportunities have arisen for the next reshaping of assembly systems.

3. This may result into a new manufacturing paradigm driven by the advancement of new technologies, new customer

expectations and by establishing new kinds of manufacturing systems.

4. The article presents a beehives inspired framework to develop intelligent reconfigurable and repurposable adaptive

assembly (IRRAA) cells.

Citation details: Malik, A.A. (2022). “Evolution of flexible industrial assembly” pre-print, arXiv:2210.00717

[eess.SY].

Evolution of flexible industrial assembly

Ali Ahmad Malik

School of Engineering & Computer Science

Oakland University, Michigan, United States

Email: aliahmadmalik@oakland.edu

Abstract

Assembly is a key industrial process to achieve finished goods. Driven by market demographics and

technological advancements, industrial assembly has evolved through several phases i.e. craftmanship,

bench assembly, assembly lines and flexible assembly cells. Due to the complexity and variety of

assembly tasks, besides significant advancement of automation technologies in other manufacturing

activities, humans are still considered vital for assembly operations. The rationalization of

manufacturing automation has considerably remained away from assembly systems. The advancement

in assembly has only been in terms of better scheduling of work tasks and avoiding of wastes. With

smart manufacturing technologies such as collaborative robots, additive manufacturing, and digital

twins, the opportunities have arisen for the next reshaping of assembly systems. The new paradigm

promises a higher degree of automation yet remaining flexible. This may result into a new

manufacturing paradigm driven by the advancement of new technologies, new customer expectations

and by establishing new kinds of manufacturing systems. This study explores the future collaborative

assembly cells, presents a generic framework to develop them and the basic building blocks.

Keywords: Industrial assembly; Human-robot collaboration; Human-robot teams; Cobots;

Collaborative robot; Digital twin; Future factory; Industry 4.0

1. Introduction

Future factories are believed to be intelligent, reconfigurable and adaptable to market dynamics

(Bilberg and Malik, 2019). The vision of batch-size-one production and mass-personalization is not so

far from becoming a reality (Jardim-Goncalves, Romero and Grilo, 2017). Technologies are getting

available and are becoming 'smart' with each passing day. Ever-increasing computing power, big data,

and smart robots are forming this new wave of smart manufacturing (Lu, Xu and Wang, 2020).

In the pre-industrial era, assembly was carried out as craft-ship (Nof, 2009) . With industrialization, the

new form of industrial assembly was established in the form of benchwork (Leviton and William, 1973).

Henry Ford revolutionized industrial assembly through assembly line and the societal impact is often

referred to as the 2nd industrial revolution (Black, 2007). In the later years, the pursuit to flexibility and

effectiveness evolved assembly systems as assembly cells (Chiarini, 2012). These cells can be in many

configurations such as U-shaped, L-shaped or S-shaped (Leng et al., 2021). The challenge still continuing

with assembly is its high dependence on humans thus sacrificing the opportunities to achieve cost

reduction, reduced errors, and relieve humans from repetitive tasks (Malik and Brem, 2021a).

Assembly operations are characterized with a large variety of simple to complex physical tasks requiring

human dexterity and flexibility (Weidner, Kong and Wulfsberg, 2013). Many of the tasks are repetitive.

The tasks in an assembly process can be physical or cognitive (Romero et al. 2016). A combination of

physical and/or cognitive skills are needed for each of the task execution. In manual operations, human

Citation details: Malik, A.A. (2022). “Evolution of flexible industrial assembly” pre-print, arXiv:2210.00717

[eess.SY].

capabilities are used to achieve the required skills. The automation of many of these tasks is possible if

(a) the skills are achievable through some technology, (b) automation is reconfigurable in a justifying

time, and (c) the technology is safe to be used alongside humans (responsible to take care of rest of the

(difficult) tasks).

A collaborative robot is a mechanical device for object manipulation in direct physical contact with

humans (Krüger et al. 2009). The concept of a collaborative robot was introduced by Colgate (Peshkin

M et al. 1996)(Edward et al. 1996)(Wannasuphoprasit et al. 1998) as an Intelligent Assist Device (IAD)

that can manipulate objects in direct collaboration with a human operator. The concept was embraced

by robot manufacturers and a newer hardware in the industrial robotics arena was introduced referred

to as cobots (collaborative robots). The purpose was the automation of physical tasks in closer and safer

proximity to humans.

Today intelligent robots, as capable members of human-robot teams, are being envisioned for homes,

hospitals, offices and for more advanced settings such as space exploration (Gao et al., 2021). The

technological development in robots is expeditious and robots are being discussed as humans’ future

teammates (Correia et al., 2019). Examples from modern day robotics are: Robonaut, a humanoid robot

to work with human astronauts for maintenance operations in space missions (Hoffman and Breazeal,

2004); BigDog – a humanoid military robot to take part in combat operations (Balakirsky et al., 2010);

HANDLE- mobile robot to move boxes in the warehouse; SPOT – a nimble robot to climb stairs and to

traverse rough terrains; ATLAS- a robot to demonstrate human-level agility (Kamikawa et al., 2021).

Besides agility, modern robots are being enabled to be intelligent of their environment and plan their

actions accordingly (Fang et al., 2022). Many studies on robots as human teammates have been reported

in the past years covering both the technical and social facets of team forming and performance (Major

and Shah, 2020).

This paper, in light of the manufacturing paradigm model presented by Koren (Koren, 2010), presents

that a new manufacturing paradigm is possible. A better understanding of it is important to better utilize

it, get aligned with it and be prepared for it. The contributions of this paper are:

• The potential reshaping of industrial assembly in terms of human-robot teams

• Framework to develop intelligent reconfigurable and repurposable adaptive assembly (IRRAA)

• The technological enablers and building blocks of IRRAA

2. Research background

a. Manufacturing paradigms

The manufacturing industry, since its birth around two centuries ago (Upadhyaya Upadhyaya et al.,

2017), has experienced several revolutionary paradigms driven by (1) the plight of new market and

economy, and (2) emerging societal imperatives driven by customers (Koren, 2010). Koren explains that

the desire of customization to individuals’ tastes, preferences and/or buying power are the morphemes

that shape societal needs and market demographics (Yao and Lin, 2016).

The altering market demographics require manufacturers to develop new types of manufacturing

systems (to produce products), and new business models (to sell products). The integration of new

Citation details: Malik, A.A. (2022). “Evolution of flexible industrial assembly” pre-print, arXiv:2210.00717

[eess.SY].

manufacturing systems with new business models and with new product architecture constitutes new

manufacturing paradigms (Mironov et al., 2009) (Koren, 2010).

As explained by Koren, the societal need to reduce automobile price was materialized by the invention

of moving assembly line (a new manufacturing system) that was combined with the technology of

interchangeable parts. Hence the paradigm of mass production was realized (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The birth of new manufacturing paradigms (Koren, 2010).

b. Anatomy of industrial assembly

Assembly can be described both as a noun (object) and a verb (action). Assembly, as an action, defines

the sequential aggregation of parts, sub-assemblies and/or software (see Figure 2) resulting into

functional products (Wiendahl et al. 2015). The parts and sub-assemblies are often manufactured at

different times and locations. Assembly tasks emerge from the need to build together all the parts into

final product of higher complexity in a required quantity and in a given time period (Nof et al. 2012).

Large number of variants, dexterous grasping of components and frequent production changes are a

few characteristics that differentiate assembly from other manufacturing processes (Malik, Andersen

and Bilberg, 2019). Industrial assembly can be differentiated from a non-repetitive or hobby-assembly

by its goals of efficiency, productivity and cost-effectiveness.

Figure 2. Components and structure of an assembly product (Wiendahl, Reichardt and Nyhuis, 2015)

* (FP: finished product; A: assembly; P: part; SM: sub-assembly.

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Citationdetails:Malik,A.A.(2022).“Evolutionofflexibleindustrialassembly”pre-print,arXiv:2210.00717[eess.SY].EvolutionofflexibleindustrialassemblyAliAhmadMalikSchoolofEngineering&ComputerScienceOaklandUniversity,Michigan,UnitedStatesEmail:aliahmadmalik@oakland.eduPre-printHighlights1.Duetothecomplexi...

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Citation details Malik A.A. 2022. Evolution of flexible industrial assembly pre -print arXiv2210.00717 eess.SY . Evolution of flexible industrial assembly

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