Assembly Automation: Volume 17 Issue 2

Counting and collating products accurately at high speed

Mike Webb

Presents a solution for counting and collating light food products at high speed. Describes a project to design and build a replacement machine within the same space which would…

European project develops “ice” gripper for micro‐sized components

Anna Kochan

Reports on the development of a robot gripper for the handling of small components measuring between 0.1 and 5mm, using the adhesive property of ice. Describes the testing of a…

Designing a parts feeding system for maximum flexibility

Wendy Wolfson, Steven J. Gordon

Looks at short‐run production, frequent product modifications, and pressures to reduce product time to market make flexible manufacturing increasingly desirable. Despite advances…

Orienting small parts with passive juggling

Peter Swanson

Motivated by the problems of flexible manufacturing and parts feeding in sensorless assembly, a flat, level vibrating table is proposed as a means of orienting small parts for…

A complete algorithm for designing passive fences to orient parts

Jeff Wiegley, Ken Goldberg, Mike Peshkin, Mike Brokowski

Reviews Peshkin and Sanderson (1988) who showed that parts can be aligned as they move on a conveyor belt against a passive sequence of fences. Describes the first complete…

Determining the probabilities of natural resting aspects of parts from their geometries

S.S.G. Lee, B.K.A. Ngoi, L.E.N. Lim, S.W. Lye

Proposes a computationally‐simple method, based on the centroid solid angle, for computing the probability distributions of the natural resting aspects of small parts, the…

Integral attachment using snap‐fit features: a key to assembly automation. Part 1 ‐ introduction to integral attachment using snap‐fit features

Robert W. Messler, Suat Genc, Gary A. Gabriele

This first part of a comprehensive six‐part series of articles on integral attachment using snap‐fit features familiarizes the reader with the key terms relating to the subject…

Integral attachment using snap‐fit features: a key to assembly automation. Part 2 ‐ bringing order to integral attachment: attachment‐level design

Robert W. Messler, Suat Genc, Gary A. Gabriele

This second of a six‐part series presents a hierarchical scheme for classifying integral snap‐fits at the attachment level, bringing great order to where there appeared to be…