Towards intelligent object handling: an advanced end-effector for integrated bin-picking and assembly of electrical components

Abstract Despite the ongoing transformation of the industrial automation in the electrical and electronics sector, the assembly of electrical cabinets remains a highly manual process mainly due to the variability of the electrical components, the unstructured environments within the storage containers and the reliance on operator expertise to correctly identify and place each component. This paper addresses these challenges by introducing a novel robotic gripper designed for both sorting, in-hand manipulation and assembly of electrical components of various sizes, weights, and shapes. The gripper features functionalities of both vacuum and parallel grasping for sorting parts of clustered scenes and assembling the components onto the panel board. In parallel, a custom-built piezo-resistive pressure sensor has been developed and integrated on the gripper that identifies the positional accuracy of the electrical components when grasped. This information is then used to precisely guide the manipulator during the assembly phase. The performance of the proposed design is evaluated in a case study derived from the elevator manufacturing industry. Overall, the gripper shows prominent results by eliminating the need for excess tool changes, improving the cycle time of the process, reducing human involvement in a repetitive task that requires expertise by the human operator to perform the assembly, and improving the perception capabilities of the robotic system, enhancing efficiency and productivity.