The Sawyer in assembly plants
Background to prove feasibility
We received a call from a multinational company with several factories in Israel, to see how to apply the Sawyer to one of its plants. This is a factory with several assembly areas, where products are assembled whose assembly time varies from several days to several weeks per unit. Although the Sawyer was built specifically for the production of medium and short series, but even when we talk about a short series, we see imaginative repetitive actions that last several hours for a product, and every few hours switch to another cyclic activity. The production floor is somewhat reminiscent of the picture on the side, and the truth was that I had many doubts about the Sawyer application to such an environment, but since I was invited, I came with a smile and a lot of attention. After the coffee was sipped, Guy, who entertained me, said: ‘I want to train Sawyer to be my chef.’ sous chef ??? What about electromechanical assembly and cooking plant? Seeing that I couldn’t quite follow his logic, he explained – the su-chef submits the ingredients and the chef puts them together into an amazing dish, at the right pace, with the right tools, and with quality control. From the initial occupational analysis of the factory assembly teams, they estimate that:
- The constituents invest on average about one-third of their jobs in the drafting process,
- The kiote process (collecting items from drawers, crates, and warehouse for assembly) is probably not arranged at the beginning of the work, but rather done as a lesson, bringing parts, assembling them, and bringing more.
- Much of the assembly time is invested in reaching out to take the next section, and sometimes, especially in relatively large assemblies, each number of parts, the component approaching the table to take the appropriate tools and parts for the next stage of assembly.
So how does this connect to a Su-Chef? They want the Sawyer to submit the parts and tools to the component. Explaining why it won’t go – very easy. The size of the parts varies, their shape varies, the gripper (the Cobot’s palm) takes a large part very different from a gripper adapted for small parts. And what about tools? How do you serve them? And every time the Sawyer has to be taught a different order of things in a variety of other things … I didn’t know how to process it – but can’t tell the customer who wants a solution, so I said we would think. The concept came about following a visit I made last month at several companies developing the next generation of Cobots logistics. Technologies that will replace the overpriced and overly cumbersome concept called auto warehouse, or by other names for many of those who purchased an auto warehouse – the “white elephant”. The next generation of Cobot logistics will be based on Cobots working with collectors – the person collects to the Cobot, and the Cobot runs from picker to picker, and to the issuing positions to fulfill the order. There are some concepts that are evolving in this direction today, and in the coming years we will begin to see effective applications of these technologies, as usual – initially overseas for large customers and 3-5 years later we will begin to see such applications in the local market as well.
Concept
- Arrange the containers according to the order of operations defined in the work order and the quantities of items defined in the work order, so that the component receives the parts in quantity and precision in the order specified.
- It can be defined by the area from which the item is taken, which in some cases the Sawyer must wait for the user to take the parts of the container and return them to the place, and in other cases it will understand that it must open it’s fingers and hand the tools to the operator.
- Communication with the Sawyer can be realized without the need for a remote control or buttons, but simply with the feel of the Sawyer. If the user gives a slight push to the Sawyer’s hand – the Sawyer can understand it as a command
- If you want to give a variety of commands, you can set the push direction as a command – light push up – bring next item, light push down – next screwdriver, light push right, next drill, and light push left, take the tool I am submitting to you And put it back in place.
- Let’s go one step further:
- Assuming that there are a number of tools, it is not necessary to arrange them in a fixed configuration, simply spread them over the surface. Once we will teach the Sawyer what each vessel looks like and where to hold it as soon as it is identified. Then as soon as the component gives a slight push down to the arm, it will turn to the tool area, hover over it and the integral camera will detect the tool, and lift it correctly.
- And if we have already started raving with the Sawyer’s vision system, then when they return, you can set it to look at the table before it lays down and place in a spare area.
Proof of feasibility
Eliran spent 2-3 hours realizing the concept, and this is what came out, Yoel who returned from the demo with another customer in the afternoon, photographed and announced, a brief explanation of what you saw from the concept presented:
- The Sawyer serves containers with screws, nuts, and Eliran
- Every time Eliran finishes taking the desired components, he gives a slight boost and the Sawyer returns the container to the place, submits the next section, and waits for the employee to sign.
- During the third, the Sawyer submits tools. The tool is simulated with a smokey square on which is indicated Smiley, the Sawyer looks for a surface with a similar configuration (Smooth area on which a smiley shape in this case), and as soon as it detects, it clings around a predefined point with respect to the smiley (and ordinary tools – identify the flyer head, but grab the handle and not necessarily in its head).
- Notice that when the Sawyer submits the tool, when Eliran touches it, the Sawyer releases the tool and does not return it.