Car Manufacture

How organizations use ICT

Objectives

• Have an understanding of how organizations use ICT.

• Be able to describe a number of uses, giving the hardware and software requirements.

• Be able to describe the applications that these uses can be put to.

• Robotic arms are used extensively in car manufacture

• Robotic arms generally have 7 sections with 6 joints

• Each joint is controlled by an actuator (a stepper motor)

Stepper Motors

• Normal DC motors spin either forwards or backwards when current is applied

• A stepper motor moves in very small steps instead

• It makes a precise number of stepped revolutions to move the robotic arm in very small increments to the correct position.

• Paint car bodies• Put on wheels• Drill holes in car

bodies• Fix rivets• Tighten bolts• Assemble electrical

circuits• Insert engines

• The computer controls the movement of the arm so that a variety of jobs can be carried out.

• The jobs carried out depend on the end effector attached to the arm.

Types of end effector

Gripper • To pick up parts & put

them somewhere else• Grippers usually have

pressure sensors built in to them

• These sensors tell the robot how hard it is gripping something so that the robot doesn’t drop or break it

Camera

– To inspect work– Quality control

purposes

Welding gun

• To weld parts of the car body together

• Welding can be hazardous to humans

Vacuum cups

• To pick up parts without obstructing the sides or bottom

• Small complex car parts

• Windscreens/ flat sheets of metal etc

Drills

– To make holes in the car body

Screwdrivers

• Also spanners and riveters

• To place and tighten screws, nuts, bolts and rivets

Spray guns

• To paint the car body

• Paint fumes are dangerous to humans

Sanders/polishers

• To produce a shiny finish after painting

End effectors

• A robot arm can have any of the previous end effectors

• If the end effector is changed, the programming must also be changed

Why use robots?

• Designed to perform the same task/ operation over and over again

• For a person, this would be repetitive & boring

• Greater accuracy than a human

• Lower running costs compared with paying a human

• Do not get tired

• Work is consistent standard

• Continuous process, no need for breaks or shift changes

• A programmer guides the arm through each step

– Either by remote control– Or by physically holding

the arm with sensors attached

• Computer stores exact sequence of movements in its memory