A variant-flexible assembly cell for hydraulic valve sections using a sensitive lightweight robot

Abstract:
In this paper a robot-based assembly cell for the production of hydraulic valve sections is presented. The depicted usecase is charcterised by a high number of variations and production in small batches. The developed robot cell is capable of producing all the possible valve variations with neglectable changeover time. Distinctive features of the developed cell are the use of contact force measurements and programmable compliant behaviour of the utilised robot as well as the possibility to supply the assembly components loosely as in a comparable manual work station.