Project R-9336

Automated Creation of Digital Assembly Instructions by Operator Driven Knowledge Capturing (Research)

The first goal of the project is to develop a tool that is able to automatically derive work instructions from CAD files. The second goal of the project is to develop a technological solution to capture the assembly knowledge of experienced operators without imposing excessive data entry and registration tasks on them. Both a solution to capture implicit and explicit feedback will be developed: explicit feedback solution: the objective is to develop a methodology for selecting suitable sensors for the majority of assembly operations and to create a user interface to efficiently capture online operator feedback. Furthermore, tools will be developed to define inline memory points that can be documented in further detail later on during the offline creation or adaptation of assembly instructions. implicit feedback solution: the objective is to develop knowledge extraction algorithms that can automatically suggest potential improvements for the work instructions to the methods engineer. The third goal of the project is to develop tools for version management and automatic work instruction suggestions, which can be used by the methods engineer to efficiently update work instructions based on the input of operators. To this end, the operator will need a digital platform, where he can view (customised) instructions and comment on them. Ideally, the methods engineer builds a framework designating what has to be done and the operator can complement this with how it should be done. As a result, manufacturing companies will be able to employ more lower-skilled operators per high-skilled methods engineer, improving the demand/supply balance in the job market. Moreover, the efforts to make and use the instructions are directly correlated to their added value: most attention will be paid to difficult operations.

01 January 2018 - 30 September 2020