Automation of yarnpick : Evaluating a cobots effectiveness for pick and place operations in a textile industry

Abstract: Repetitive, strenuous and heavy lifting are working conditions many companies have a hard time to eliminate. Such is the case for the textile company, AB Ludvig Svensson. A big part of the production at the factory is unpacking, loading, unloading and just moving lots of rolls of yarn daily. In a single day, workers can expect to move a few thousand rolls of yarn. This has a highly detrimental efect on the bodies of the individuals performing these tasks and will contribute to a lower standard of living for the operators. To combat this, AB Ludvig Svensson is looking to implement the relatively new technology of collaborative robots, also known as cobots. These robots are designed to be easy to program, user-friendly, safe to operate around, and more cost-efective to implement than traditional robots. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate if a cobot, mainly the UR10e, can be used to perform the pick and place operations that AB Ludvig Svensson has in its production line. By collecting current-day data and running tests with a cobot, information could be gathered and used in simulation software. Doing this allowed AB Ludvig Svensson to see the changes in production output before implementing them. In addition, by performing ergonomic evaluations, the possible health benefts could be observed as well. Test results show that cobots are well suited for AB Ludvig Svenssons production and the material they handle. The biggest hurdle for AB Ludvig Svensson before implementing a cobot will be to standardize the large variety of racks, carriers and pipes that is being used in their production today.