Wireless Fault Detection System for an Industrial Robot Based on Statistical Control Chart

Abstract

Industrial robots are now commonly used in production systems to improve productivity, quality and safety in manufacturing processes. Recent developments involve using robots cooperatively with production line operatives. Regardless of application, there are significant implications for operator safety in the event of a robot malfunction or failure, and the consequent downtime has a significant impact on productivity in manufacturing. Machine healthy monitoring is a type of maintenance inspection technique by which an operational asset is monitored and the data obtained is analysed to detect signs of degradation and thus reducing the maintenance costs. Developments in electronics and computing have opened new horizons in the area of condition monitoring. The aim of using wireless electronic systems is to allow data analysis to be carried out locally at field level and transmitting the results wirelessly to the base station, which as a result will help to overcome the need for wiring and provides an easy and cost-effective sensing technique to detect faults in machines. So, the main focuses of this research is to develop an online and wireless fault detection system for an industrial robot based on statistical control chart approach. An experimental investigation was accomplished using the PUMA 560 robot and vibration signal capturing was adopted, as it responds immediately to manifest itself if any change is appeared in the monitored machine, to extract features related to the robot health conditions. The results indicate the successful detection of faults at the early stages using the key extracted parameters.