RW Assembly FC (Force Control for assembly) is an Application Option, which will greatly facilitate the use of robots for tasks that needs “touch sensing”, like assembly, fixturing, product testing etc. The option is based on the force control concept, i.e. a robot control strategy where the robot movements are adapted to the feedback from a force sensor. Thus the robot can automatically search for the correct location, and assemble parts using intelligent Force/Torque motion without the risk for jamming or part damage.
The RW Assembly FC will make it possible to robotize assembly tasks, which previously have been too demanding for robot automation. Even with tolerances in the size of some hundreds of a millimetre, or assembling parts with arbitrary positions, it will now be possible and profitable to use robots in a fully automatic production. The production will also gain higher quality and less product damages.
With force control the robot is equipped with tactile sense and can handle parts like a human worker, e.g. search along a predefined pattern and try pushing until parts slip into position with only small contact forces used. This will save installation and programming costs due to more easy programming and reduce average process cycle time due to less assembly problems in production.
Assembly FC can also be used for product testing where the objective is to apply forces and torque in order to simulate normal use. Typical test examples are seats, steering wheels, switches, knobs, levers, drawers, beds etc. The testing will be performed without any overload to the exact specified test sequence.