Design of screwdriver nozzle to robot for improved centering and feeding of screw

Abstract: Automation is a process that has been ongoing in the society for a considerable amount of time. Fastening of boards onto joists is still done manually to a large degree. To reduce the amount of monotone work, automation of such fastening can be performed. One subtask of automation is screw feeding. Present feeding solutions often times rely on the force, which occurs between the screwdriver and the board that is being attached. This increases the total force exerted on the board. Therefore a solution has been developed to disconnect the feeding motion from other motions in the total assembly. Centering of the screw while fastening was another subtask of this project. The proposed solution to this task was partially integrated into feeding mechanism, partially a standalone assembly at the bottom of the feeding solution. Another aspect of such fastening is the required axial compressive force, so that cam-out effect is prevented. This force is assumed to be dependent on the previous subtask of centering. This is at least due to the fact that a misalignment between the screw and the bit implies that part of the vertical force component is wasted in horizontal direction. This was also explored in the present work. Resultant torque was also looked into, as the required axial compressive force is assumed to be dependent on this.