Simulating Human-Robot Collaboration : - An example from cab assembly

Abstract: This is a master thesis report conducted at the Department of Production Engineering at KTH. The master thesis is a part of the ToMM (Collaborative Team of Man and Machine) project which involves Swerea IVF, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, Scania and Linköping University. This report address Case 3 of the ToMM project and was conducted at the Volvo GTO plant in Umeå. The aim of the master thesis was to simulate a Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) process for the mounting of a cockpit in a Volvo FH truck cab. This was done using the simulation software IPS/IMMA developed by Fraunhofer Chalmers Center. The result of the simulations is a video showing how a collaborative cell may be designed. A possible robot safety system is also presented.Because of how the assembly is carried out the assembly station cannot fully adhere to the requirements of ISO 10218 - Safety Requirements for Industrial Robots. A risk assessment was made for each stage of the assembly and the station has been designed to as far as possible follow the standard ISO 10218 in order to minimize risks. In addition to the simulation this report contains a literature review of available and for the thesis relevant literature on Human -Robot Collaboration and a brief review of Standard ISO 10218. The conclusion of the thesis is that if a HRC solution would be implemented employees could be reduced from two to one and total man time from 4 minutes 13 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds. The labour cost of cockpit assembly would then be reduced by 1500000 SEK annually. This is based on an annual production of 50 000 cabs.