Industrial robots are a valuable tool for mastering current challenges in the manufacturing industry. They enable cost-effective and more sustainable production of increasingly individualized products in high-wage countries and help to overcome the shortage of skilled workers. To be able to do this, robot-based automation systems must be very well adapted to the task at hand. The aim of this course is to systematically look at the requirements of different production processes and translate them into high-performance solutions.

Industrial robots are the core component of numerous automation systems for production and handling processes. This course covers production processes like primary shaping, forming, cutting, joining and assembly and examines their requirements on robot design, robot controllers, robot off-line programming, suitable effectors, and automation compatible workpiece design. As simulation based offline-programming is a prerequisite for the effective automation of a growing number of such production processes, simulation systems and offline-programming applications play an important part in this course. Sensor- and vision systems are also covered as essential components of many automation solutions, as well as programmable logic controllers.

G. Boothroyd. Assembly Automation and Product Design, 2nd Edition, Taylor & Francis, 2005.

G. J. Monkmann, S. Hesse, R. Steinmann, and H. Schunk. Robot Grippers, Wiley-VCH, 2007.

J. C. Craig. Introduction to Robotics - Mechanics and Control, 4th Edition, Pearson, 2014.