Feasibility Study URe5 Collaborative Robot at Engine Piston Assembly Station

This paper aims to answer the question of the applicability of collaborative robots (cobots) that are suitable for engine piston assembly applications. To define the possible application and methods, a case study is conducted where the integration of collaborative robots is assessed and compared to the current state, which is performed manually. The engine piston assembly station was mapped using the hierarchical task analysis (HTA) method to statistically identify the effective time of each value-added task within the assembly operation. Then a new station layout was recreated with a collaborative robot in RoboDK simulation software to measure how much time is needed to complete the robot task. The rest is tested in laboratory conditions with the URe5 collaborative robot to compare the mean effective process times of manual, hybrid, and simulation operations.