THE CONCEPT OF MODULAR ROBOTS: VALIDATED BY A DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED ROBOT.

摘要

Modern industries are faced with conflicting market demands for fast-changing, but low-cost products. Flexible automation, of which robots form an integral part, is an accepted practice which meets these difficult process requirements. This dissertation investigates the status of current robots and concludes that the present robots are overdesigned with respect to their job applications. The suggested correct application of robotics is to use need-based robots. This dissertation proposes a modular robot in which certain robot characteristics are variable to fit the application needs. A working 3-axis robot was designed and built with the assistance of a local engineering company. The modularity concept was applied to limb dimensions and variation in degrees of freedom. All these were achieved with the same precision that was available with conventional 3-axis robots. This validated the modularity concept which is suggested as the concept of the future for robots.