Browsing by Subject "Industrial"
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Item A content analysis of employee satisfaction surveys(Texas Tech University, 2003-08) Hull, Penny LNot availableItem A test for selection of supervisors in industry(Texas Tech University, 1958-08) McMurry, Frederick DouglasNot availableItem An analysis of the effect of confirmation bias on industrial radiography(Texas Tech University, 1997-05) Romero, Henry AbrahamThis experiment was undertaken to ascertain the current performance, the variables affecting performance, and performance improvements of a dynamic visual inspection process, real time radiography, used at a Department of Energy laboratory. The system was being used to determine contents of 5 5-gallon mixed waste drums prior to storage. This experiment started with a task analysis in which critical tasks necessary for successful completion of a barrel assessment were determined. One of the factors expected to shape the performance was the provision of a shipper's manifest. The reason is that the manifest induces a confirmation bias on the part of the operator concerning what to expect in the barrel. A literature review was performed concerning perception and industrial inspection processes. From this review, it was determined that this process had not been adequately studied in the literature. One of the main differences was that the confirmation bias was elicited in the literature by the use of tachistoscopic cues which were not feasible in this process. A repeated-measures design experiment was developed that utilized specifically created drums to test the confirmation bias as well as effects of experience and Mental Fatigue. The responses from this experiment were categorized into three binomial distributions: correct identifications, misclassifications. and detection failures. The results were that this experiment failed to note an effect due to the confirmation bias. In addition, this experiment failed to note impact from the Mental Fatigue or experience variables. In examining experience effects, it appears that between three and nine months time on task, the performance of the operators reached a level and did not significantly improxe. However, individual differences alone could have accounted for these results.Item An Industrial Manufacturing Plant For: Kimbell Gin Machinery Co. and Kimbell-Bishard Co., Inc.(Texas Tech University, 1977-05) Fowler, Gary D.Not Available.Item A compliant control law for industrial, dual-arm manipulators(2013-05) Zelenak, Andrew J; Landsberger, Sheldon; Pryor, Mitchell WayneMany of the first robots ever built, decades even before the first industrial robots, were humanoids. It seems like researchers have always sought to imitate the human form with their robots, and with good reason. Humans are incredibly flexible; they can perform a huge variety of tasks, from locomotion over rough terrain, to delicate assembly, to heavy lifting. A human’s second arm allows him to lift twice as much weight. His workspace is approximately doubled, and he can perform a broader variety of tasks as items are passed back and forth between hands. We sought to impart some of that same functionality to a strong, rigid, dual-arm robot. Specifically, we developed a control law that allows two robot arms to lift and manipulate an object in cooperation. As opposed to the prior art, our control law is tailored for industrial robots. These robots do not usually allow torque control and their control frequency is generally 60 Hz. Through the use of fuzzy logic, the control law is quite robust at 60 Hz control rates. Its simple structure reduces the computational cost of the algorithm by approximately 75% over Jacobian-based methods. Stability is proven and the controller parameters can be adjusted to handle perturbances of arbitrary magnitude. Since the robots behave as an admittance, torque control is not required. Several experiments were conducted to benchmark and validate the performance of this control law. The controller is able to maintain a clamp force within ± 4N despite a wide variation in trajectory and control frequency. This fine level of force control makes the controller suitable for delicate tasks. The conclusion suggests several extensions that would make this control law more useful. For example, adaptive control would improve the performance. A position feedback controller should be cascaded so that the robot arms’ tracking accuracy is improved. Many tasks (such as co-robotics) require external compliance, and we show how external compliance could easily be incorporated.Item Design and analysis of a coding and classification system for a systematic interactive computer-aided robot selection procedure (CARSP)(Texas Tech University, 1984-08) Offodile, Onyebuchi FelixA coding and classification system (ROBOCODE) was developed for robots, and used to model a computer based robot selection algorithm. Forty attributes were used to design a taxonomic system for robots and provided a fast and easy standard basis for comparing robots. The system is semi-polycode structure and was readily computerized for easy storage and retrieval of information on robots. The goal of the ROBOCODE system was a user oriented computer-aided robot selection procedure (CARSP). The CARS system software is interactive, and its design showed that the ease with which the vast amount of data on robots, and the number of robots, could be handled was limited primarily by the disc storage space of the computer rather than the computer memory. Coding and classification was found to augment this storage space by a factor of about ten. The same coding system was used to code the tasks the robot was to perform in order to establish an effective matching procedure between the task and the robot. For some task variables that could not be matched directly, a indirect matching procedure was developed. A set of cost equations was developed and used to measure the performance of the robots under shop conditions The necessary condition for selecting a robot was that the codes for the robot be as good as or superior to the corresponding task codes, and the sufficient condition was that the robot had a total minimum operating cost. The robot selection model was evaluated using a statistical procedure to investigate the stability of the model selecting the cost effective robot. Experimental result; showed that the model was fairly stable in selecting this cost effective robot based on the robots' first period total operating cost. For a robot selection problem in which one machine was used to perform one type of task on one type of product (1/1/1), the cost effective robot was selected 67' of the time, and 54% of the time for the robot selection problem in which one machine was used to perform one type of task on four different types of products (1/1/4).Item Determination of Repeatability of a Limited Sequence Control Industrial Robot(Texas Tech University, 1983-08) Kajila, SadanandaNot Available.Item Industrial automation and control in hazardous nuclear environments(2015-05) Peterson, Clinton II Dean; Landsberger, Sheldon; Pryor, Mitchell WayneThis report discusses the design and implementation of an automated system for use in geometrically-constrained, hazardous glovebox environments. This system’s purpose is to reduce a hemispherical plutonium pit into smaller pieces that fit inside of a crucible. The size reduction of plutonium pits supports stockpile stewardship efforts by the United States Department of Energy. The automation of this process increases the safety of radiation workers by handling radioactive nuclear material. This decreases glovebox worker dose and exposure to tools, sharps, and fines. This effort examines the hardware and software framework developed to support the use of a Port Deployed Manipulator (PDM) for a contact task. This research effort uses a 7 Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) PDM and a micropunch to reduce hemispherical pit surrogates. Formulation of the material reduction execution algorithm involved addressing a variety of topics related to industrial automation: 1. Collision detection and object recognition based on user-specified parameters. 2. Joint torque monitoring 3. Online motion planning for contact tasks 4. Object-in-hand industrial manufacturing 5. Grasping and handling of nuclear material 6. Software compliance via robust nonlinear control methods A high-bandwidth collision detection algorithm involving joint torque monitoring was developed to increase robot safety during operation. The motion planning algorithm developed for this effort takes variable geometric properties to be used with a range of hemishells. The algorithm’s feasibility was validated on a hardware test bed in a laboratory setting. Hardware cold tests conclude that mechanical compliance is sufficient for task completion. However, software compliance would increase performance, ef- ficiency, and safety during task execution. Two different nonlinear force control laws (feedback linearization and sliding mode control) that minimize object shear forces were developed using a simplified material reduction simulation. It is recommended that glovebox automation research continue to increase worker safety throughout the DOE complex.Item On optimizing assembly plans for a robotized printed circuit board assembly center(Texas Tech University, 1986-12) Chang, Chi-mingThe purpose of this research was threefold. First, a set of parameters was defined for use in analyzing the assembly planning problem in robotized printed circuit board (PCB) assembly centers. Second, a number of mathematical models were developed to optimize assembly plans for a robotized PCB assembly center. Third, an integrated heuristic method was developed to obtain near-optimal assembly plans. The robotized PCB assembly center of interest consists of a moving X-Y table, a moving feeder carrier and a traveling pick-and-place robot. The assembly planning problem is one of determining the assembly sequence and assignment of feeders to optimize two prioritized objectives: minimizing assembly cycle time and minimizing total X-Y table travel time. Three groups of parameters were defined through analysis of the problem. These are: (1) non-timing parameters, (2) timing parameters and (3) priority parameter. Based on the parameters, 10 different assembly environment classes were identified. A number of mathematical models were developed. Among them, four models were of traveling salesman problem nature but with modification on the associated cost matrices. The remaining models were more complicated and were non-linear. These models were linearized to obtain 3 modules. An integrated heuristic method of five stages was developed to quickly reach a near-optimal assembly plan. A set of experiments was performed to evaluate the performance of this integrated heuristic method. When the number of feeders is no less than the number of components total delay can always be zero while total X-Y table travel is less than 1% above the best known solutions. When the number of components is greater than the number of feeders and total X-Y table travel time receives higher priority, the resultant assembly plan can have both performance measurers less than 1% above the best known solutions. For the remaining classes, the resultant assembly plans always have zero delay while total X-Y table travel time is no more than 3% above the best known solutions if Stage III and Stage V are used.Item Relationship between monotony and intelligence in an industrial situation(Texas Tech University, 1952-05) Blitstein, BertrandNot availableItem The effects of extrinsic rewards on work performance, job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation(Texas Tech University, 1980-05) Gibbs, Michael EdwardNot available