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The earlier ESPRIT Projects CAD*I (ESPRIT 322) and NIRO (ESPRIT 5109) have made significant contributions to the foundations of Product Data Technology, particularly in the standardisation of product descriptions and robot kinematics in STEP (ISO 10303) and in robotics programming languages. InterRob (ESPRIT 6457), their direct successor, has been building on these results and has extended them to mature applications of Product Data Technology for robotics in high precision manufacturing. The InterRob approach is based on standardised models for product geometry, kinematics, robotics, dynamics, and control, hence on a coherent neutral information model of the process chain from design to manufacturing. This process thus supports product design, analysis, simulation, robot programming and control by a flexible chain of software modules connected by neutral interfaces. The approach enables the off-line programming of robots relying on CAD product definitions, thus avoiding the much more tedious and inflexible teach-in programming. This capability is a key advantage in one-of-a-kind production. Applications in plasma spraying of high-precision parts in the aerospace industry and robot welding of complex pipe connections in shipbuilding demonstrate the viability of the approach. The economic success of the methodology is based on the built-in quality control for the information flow and on significant time and cost savings. InterRob has also made valuable contributions to PDT standardisation, both by relying on existing and evolving standards (ISO STEP AP 203, AP 214) and by extending these models particularly for robotics.
List of contents
1 Introduction.- 2 Rational and Baseline of the Interrob Project.- 3 The STEP Based InterRob Interface for Product Definition Data.- 3.1 Identification of Topical Areas for Data Exchange.- 3.2 The InterRob Application Protocol.- 4 Implementation of STEP Interfaces in InterRob.- 4.1 Data Exchange Between Commercial Systems using Physical Files.- 4.2 Capability of the STEP Processors for KISMET, BRAVO and ADAMS.- 4.3 Data Exchange and Storage by Object Oriented Databases.- 5 Aspects of Model Fidelity.- 5.1 Motivation.- 5.2 Error compensation of robots.- 5.3 Spline Interpolation.- 6 Industrial Applications and Demonstrations of InterRob Results.- 6.1 The Plasma Spraying Application at Rolls-Royce.- 6.2 The Pipe Welding Application at Odense Steel Shipyard.- 7 Contributions to Standardisation Activities.- 7.1 InterRob and the STEP Standardisation Work.- 7.2 InterRob and the IRL Standardisation Work.- 8 InterRob Project Results and Exploitation Plans.- 8.1 General.- 8.2 BYG Ltd.- 8.3 DTU.- 8.4 Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.- 8.5 Odense Steel Shipyard (OSS).- 8.6 Reis Robotics.- 8.7 Rolls-Royce plc.- 8.8 SINTEF Informatics.- Annexes.- Annex 1 Poposed Extensions to STEP: Selected Parts of the InterRob Application Protocol.- Annex 2 STEP Processors Developed in InterRob.- Annex 3 Simulation of Robot Kinetics and Control.- Annex 4 IRL Processors developed in InterRob.- Annex 5 Examples of STEP Exchange Files in InterRob.- Annex 6 Examples of IRL Exchange Files in InterRob.- References.
