Modeling and analysis of robotic wheel loading process in trim-and-final assembly

Purpose ‐ Moving production lines are widely used in many manufacturing factories, such as automotive and general industries. However, industrial robots are hardly used to perform any tasks on the moving production lines. One of the main reasons is that it is difficult for conventional industrial robots to adjust to any sort of change. Therefore, the authors developed an industrial robotic system to track the random motion of the moving production lines while performing assembly processes. Before setting up a physical system to measure the system performance, it is desirable to develop a method to analyze the system performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop a performance analysis method for a robotic assembly system on a moving production line. Design/methodology/approach ‐ The developed system is based on the synergic combination of visual servoing and force control technology. Since it is difficult to model the system accurately, a second-order system is used to approximate it. The system performance for force control and visual servoing is then analyzed. The tracking errors are calculated and compared with experimental results. Findings ‐ The developed method is evaluated using an experimental system and simulation. The simulation results are quite close to the experimental results. Hence, the developed method can be used to estimate the system performance. Research limitations/implications ‐ Since only one system is set up to validate the developed method, more testing is needed to generalize it. Practical implications ‐ The developed technology is validated using the experimental results and the results are promising. Even though there is a limitation, the developed method can be used to estimate the system performance before setting up a physical system. Originality/value ‐ This paper provides a system performance analysis method for a robotic assembly on a moving production line. It is important to estimate the system performance before setting up a physical system because it will save a lot of time and resources in the manufacturing floor.