Measuring finger engagement during manual assembly operations in automotive assembly

摘要

Electrical connection defects represent a significant percentage of the defects caused during the automotive assembly process. These defects are usually discovered during the inspection stages of the vehicle. To rework such defects, much time is spent uninstalling and reinstalling components such as instrument panels and carpeting as the connections are covered over during subsequent assembly processes. Human detection of these defects has proven insufficient. This work focuses on finger engagement during manual assembly processes to assist future smart wearable systems in determining human-process interaction state during manual assembly processes. Thus, points of interest are which individual fingers engage with the connector, force exerted, and how it differs among personnel. Pressure sensors were created using a piezoresistive fabric and layered with conductive material to produce a flexible pressure sensor. The piezoresistive fabric changes its resistivity as it is deformed or stretched, and which was calibrated to obtain force values. By utilizing a flexible fabric material, the assembly process was minimally interrupted by limiting interference of a user’s tactile feel. A prototype glove pair was developed for testing purposes with sensor placement at each of the five fingertips. Testing was conducted by performing four electrical connections using connectors of a variety of connector sizes.