A manufacturing cell, also called a workcell, is a group of modular actuators, fixtures, sensors, tools and software
that are fully reconfigurable on demand to accomplish a variety of tasks in the most optimal way. The implementation
of such a technology will require not only massive integration of mechanical systems, but also the integration of
current manufacturing technologies and manufacturing decision making.
Essentially, the building blocks of a workcell (actuators, sensors, fixtures, end effector tools control software),
have the following characteristics:
Modularity
Standardized interfaces
Intelligence
Fault Tolerance
Several applications involving workcells have been developed at the Robotics Research Group. A glovebox application
was used to show how modular manipulators could be reconfigured inside a workcell used for
Advanced Plutonium Processing. More recently, a simulation
of a medical workcell was created (see Figure 1). This shows a dual-arm surgical robot and two independent manipulators
used for tool-changing and material disposal tasks.
Figure 1. Medical Workcell
The main research thrusts of this group involve the control of systems like these: using path planning and obstacle
avoidance to create smooth and collision-free trajectories in complex and changing environments, improving the performance
of low-DOF systems, developing software architectures to provide generalized and reconfigurable robot controllers, etc.
