The robot has become an indispensable part of the industrial process and is rapidly spreading to other industries such as healthcare and agriculture. A robot with a fixed tool (does not change during the task) is able to perform only one task. Thus, a large number of robots would be needed for the whole process, which contains many different tasks. Tool change allows for more work to be done by fewer robots, which means a reduction in high investment requirements and thus high plant flexibility.
In the diploma thesis we focused on the system of quick interchangeable fingers as a way of fast automatic tool change. After reviewing the unlocking and locking methods, we chose methods that allowed the interchangeable finger system to be simple, reliable, mechanically rigid, reasonably small, and suitably strong. As an additional criterion, we considered that the cost of manufacturing the system is as low as possible. From the selected four methods, we made prototypes of quickly interchangeable finger systems based on the Snap-Fit, rail guide, index bolt and ball lock pin method. We tested their static properties and robotic exchange performance. The test results highlight the interchangeable finger system based on the ball lock pin as the best.
|
