ASSIGNMENT

ON
ADVANCEMENTS
IN
INDUSTRIAL
AUTOMATION AND
ROBOTICS

Submitted By: Inderbir Singh

CLASS: D3MEA
ROLL NO: 1508117
Submitted To:Prof. Jatinder Kapoor
( Mechanical Dept. GNDEC Ludhiana)
INTRODUCTION
Factory automation technology is entering a period of rapid change
and technical advances designed to improve operations. Factory
processes will be more efficient with higher reliability and better
quality output. Requirements for operator intervention in manual
settings or in open control loops will become increasingly rare and
even closed loop controls will change as intelligent sensors and
universal connectivity become commonplace. Fast networks will
allow factory data to be available outside the plant in real time and
secure networks will replace present-day slow, insecure
communications. Automation in technology is one of the central,
crucial elements of almost all manufacturing processes. Automation
is arguably the impetus behind manufacturing, dating back to the
Industrial Revolution. In the centuries since, as technology has
advanced and new inventions have gained prominence, these
processes have only gotten more sophisticated.

1. Cloud storage for wireless data

One of the greatest advances in automation is one that stands to benefit every
industry is cloud storage. Cloud storage allows you to store all data wirelessly.
All data from almost every machine can be automatically uploaded, ensuring
that all information is backed up over a wireless network. Additionally, in case
of any computer crashes, all of your data is completely safe, accessible from
any computer and waiting to be recovered from the cloud.

2. Diode lasers for creating “invisible” seams

Diode lasers are adding greater efficiency in assembly processes in the
automotive industry. Audi, the German car manufacturer, recently
implemented robot controlled 13-kW diode lasers in their Ingolstadt factory.
This allowed the company to create an “invisible” weld on the car shell,
providing additional structural security throughout the car.
By programming these diode lasers, Audi is coupling automation with a host of
other advanced processes, such as welding and bonding. As a result, the
manufacturer is reducing car weight, production time, and energy costs due to
regenerative braking in conveyor and lift systems.

3. 3D Printing in manufacturing for finished components

3D printing is one of the biggest recent advances in manufacturing and
automation. Although the technology has been around since the 1980s,
machines were previously too large and the process was too slow for
widespread adoption.

Today, however, 3D printers have become so developed that these machines

are used to produce finished parts. These machines now have the capability for
improved accuracy and capacities for increased sizes and production runs. As a
result, they are being adopted into processes throughout industries. The
military, for example, conjectures that it may be able to print replacement
parts in the battlefield.

The advantages of automated 3D printing are many. It allows much more

affordable manufacture of complex, highly customized, and efficient designs—
3D printed products can be lighter, stronger, and require less assembly. One
machine can be responsible for a number of product lines, with production
lines of as many or as few units as needed.

3D printers additionally allow for point-of-assembly or point-of-consumption

printing. They present a lower barrier of entry to manufacturing, and open up
a number of new supply chain or retail opportunities.
4. Extremely small machines for nonmanufacturing
Nanomanufacturing—the manufacture of material on a molecular or even
atomic level—has been recently gaining steam. It is expected to play a future
role in the production of items such as high-efficiency solar cells and batteries.

Nanomanufacturing is most promising for nonmanufacturing purposes such as

biosystem-based medical applications. A sensor inside your body, for instance,
could help your doctor monitor cancer levels. Future generations of electronics
and computing devices may also heavily rely on nonmanufacturing.
5. 24-Hour manufacturing operations
Continuous, 24-hour manufacturing operations have come a long way in
current years. Industrial robots can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
performing repeatable processes. The greatest advance in today’s automated
24-hour machines the increasingly fine precision they can achieve. These
machines can now be accurate to hundredths of a second and in less space
than is detectable by the human eye.

The expense associated with industrial robots has also fallen as much as 50%
compared with human labor since 1990. This allows manufacturers to achieve
higher productivity and efficiency without additional labor costs.

6. Sensing, measurement, and process control

Automation has not only become more widespread in recent years, it has also
become finer and more sophisticated. Industrial robots are now outfitted with
additional sensing, measurement, and process control transmitters that help to
guide increasingly nimble machines. These transmitters provide the
information necessary to manage the operation of the factory as a whole.
Products can be tracked from inception all the way to the point of delivery.

Sensing, measurement, and process control transmitters further make it easier

and more reliable to allow machines to operate without personnel. In case
anything should go wrong, such as the humidity around an automated spray
system being harmful for paint, the sensor can detect the issue and issue an
alert at the moment of the incident, sending a signal to the machine operator
or even to the plant manager’s cellphone.

The latest approach to simulation technology enables the user to fully model
the robot, its cell and anything in or near it. With improved integration at the
planning phase to the upstream and downstream systems, robots may now be
re-configured to accept new products more efficiently. The programming tasks
for the new products may be undertaken 'offline' with the robot still in
production, hence flexibility is beginning to be restored to this potentially
powerful technology.
New flexible programming combined with the latest generation of user friendly
robots has seen a new surge in the uptake of automated solutions to
manufacturing problems.

Summary
To compete over the long term in markets where companies start
implementing factory automation means developing an IoT strategy. For new
plants, a fully integrated hardware concept with intelligent sensors, powerful
embedded controllers, robots and panel PCs linked on IP-enabled networks is a
prerequisite. The future automation trends will include wireless sensors,
connect to the IoT gateway device, transferring data through the cloud and
provide engineers and data analysts with valuable information that can be
translated into actionable and profitable plans. For hardware, rugged,
modularized products with wide operating temperature range and wireless
connectivity features will become more in demand because they can be
installed closer to the sensors and the machinery