Robotics assisted Maintenance

Could robots assist Maintenance shop floor activity? Is it convenient? What’s their impact on the cyber-factory models?

Maintenance added-value tasks are one-of-a-kind. These OOKs centers on corrective (the most unique opportunities to learn and catalogue knowledge), predictive and MRO. Rutinary and Preventive Maintenance are only “practicalities” derived from well-engineered failure knowledge and analysis.

Even though, these standardized “practicalities” are variable enough to demand an adaptative work around, so not any kind of robot can assist on them, not saying that the task’s performing places are many times difficult to access and move around.

So, even from this particular case of more standardized work, only special-purpose humanoid robots are feasible for helping.

Important to say that in a new or reconfigurated Plant, the lay out must be prepared for easy accessing to all kind of Maintenance, and particularly for the robots. This enables to use them, and also to be less specific ones.

Doing that, in some conditions these repetitive tasks (levels, lubrication, normal adjustments) can be fully rely on them, and the Maintenance people concentrate on develop engineering and added value with 4 axes:

• Prediction
• Radical Improvement of reliability
• Agility and fast repair
• Knowledge creation

In the most interesting part of the Maintenance, the Corrective, the robots can perform multiple auxiliary tasks, such as:

• Transport and provide parts and tools
• More important, provide real-time dialogue info on the repair context, integrating data for the engineer. Profun®
• Learn to improve
• “In-situ” alarms and dangers management.
• Directly perform some of the most dangerous parts of the involved tasks.

All of them focused to get out of the task improvement info, fast repair, and a safe execution. The main features of a robot for maintenance must be so:

• Human-like dynamics and degrees of freedom
• Enhanced Robustness
• Precise artificial vision and environment sensing
• Self changing ever grasps and even arms
• Leading edge A.I. info integration from Prisma, Captor and Promind
• Real time programmed voice from engineer