This thesis presents a new high level robot programming system. The programming system can be used to construct strategies consisting of compliant motions, in which a moving robot slides along obstacles in its environment. The programming system is referred to as high level because the user is spared of many robot-level details, such as the specification of conditional tests, motion termination conditions, and compliance parameters. Instead, the user specifies task-level information, including a geometric model of the robot and its environment. The user may also have to specify some suggested motions. There are two main system components. The first component is an interactive teaching system which accepts motion commands from a user and attempts to build a compliant motion strategy using the specified motions as building blocks. The second component is an autonomous compliant motion planner, which is intended to spare the user from dealing with "simple" problems. The planner simplifies the representation of the environment by decomposing the configuration space of the robot into a finite state space, whose states are vertices, edges, faces, and combinations thereof. States are inked to each other by arcs, which represent reliable compliant motions. Using best first search, states are expanded until a strategy is found from the start state to a global state. This component represents one of the first implemented compliant motion planners. The programming system has been implemented on a Symbolics 3600 computer, and tested on several examples. One of the resulting compliant motion strategies was successfully executed on an IBM 7565 robot manipulator.

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This paper analyses the pricing on spare parts. Empirical studies have showed that manufacturers of durable goods make an unproportional large profit on its spare parts in relation to the revenue it generates. It is first showed that according to the standard economic model the price on spare part ought to be zero since the producer include an insurance in the price of the main good. Further it is showed that moral hazard alone do not explain the pricing found in the studies. Finally an analysis of whether consumers with present-biased preferences could be a possible explanation is made. The analysis finds that it is a possibility however somewhat unlikely.

Företag är idag under stor press och de måste ständigt öka effektivitetenför att kunna konkurrera. Lean är en filosofi som påstås öka kundvärdet och minskakostnaderna. Både akademiker och företag skapar ofta egna definitioner av lean vilkethar lett till många studier inom ämnet. Studier av vinsterna från lean är också ganskavanligt men det är inte många som har studerat delarna av lean och hur de påverkarresultatet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka vad tillverkande företag uppfattar attarbetet med lean har gett för effekter. Vidare vill vi kartlägga om det går att dela inlean i olika delar samt om det är helheten som ger de eventuella effekterna eller omdet räcker att införa enskilda delar. Metod: Utgångspunkten i denna studie är i teorin. Empirin har samlats genomsemistrukturerade intervjuer som genomförts på sex olika företag. Vi har alltsågenomfört en multipel fallstudie. Resultat: Ökad produktivitet, högre kundvärde och ökat engagemang är de vanligasteeffekterna vi sett. Lean består av olika delar men delarna verkar i stor utsträckningvara beroende och förstärka varandra.Sökord: lean, effekter, delar, produktion, företag / Companies today are under a great deal of pressure and they have tofind ways to compete through increased effectiveness. Lean is a philosophy wichclaims to increase the customer value and reduce costs. Both academics andcompanies create their own definition of lean which has lead to many studies of thesubject. Studies of the gains from lean are also pretty common but there are not manywho have studied the parts of lean and how they affect the profit. Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate what effects manufacturingcompanies perceive that lean leads to. Further, we like to identify whether it ispossible to divide lean in different parts and if it is the whole that gives the potentialimpact or if it is sufficient to introduce individual parts. Method: The starting point of this study is in the theories of lean. The design is amultipel case study. The empirical findings come from 6 semi–structured interviews. Result: Increased productivity, greater customer value and engagement are the mostcommon effects we have seen. Lean consists of different parts but the parts seem tobe largely dependent and reinforcing.Keywords: lean, effects, parts, production, companies

The ability to produce precision ring shaped parts using the turning process depends significantly on the workholding characteristics. Workholding parameters such as the number of jaws and chucking force are known to influence the roundness tolerance of ring shaped parts commonly used in bearing applications. Experimental trial and error methods are often used in practice to optimize the workholding parameters to achieve the desired part quality. This thesis develops a systematic mathematical approach for optimizing these parameters using a finished cut roundness prediction model and a model for determining the reaction force between the chuck jaws and the ring. The roundness prediction model is verified through experiments for different cutting conditions. The optimization approach takes as input the required roundness tolerance, geometry and mechanical properties of the ring, cutting forces, and the coefficient of friction between the jaws and the ring. The output consists of the minimum number of jaws and the range of acceptable chucking forces that satisfy the required tolerance while preventing slip of the ring. Simulation examples are used to illustrate the proposed workholding optimization approach for a hard turning application. In addition, based on the optimization model, the thesis proposes a novel concept of dynamic chucking force control that promises to yield part roundness that is superior to conventional chucking.

Parts orienting is an important part of automated manufacturing. Sensorless manipulation has proven to be a useful paradigm in addressing parts orienting, and the manipulation of deformable objects is a growing area of interest. Until now, these areas have remained separate because existing orienting approaches utilize forces that if applied to deformable parts violate the assumptions used by existing algorithms, and could potentially break the part. We introduce a new algorithm and manipulator actions that, when provided with the geometric description and a deformation model of choice for the part, exploits the deformation and generates a Plan that consists of the shortest sequence of manipulator actions guaranteed to orient the part up to symmetry from any unknown initial orientation and pose. Additionally, the algorithm estimates whether a given manipulator is sufficiently precise to perform the actions which guarantee the final orientation. This is dictated by the particular part geometry, deformation model, and the manipulator action path planner which contains simple end-effector constraints and any standard motion planner. We illustrate the success of the algorithm with multiple parts through 192 trials of experiments that were performed with low-precision robot manipulators and six parts made of four types of materials. The experimental trials resulted in 154 successes, which show the feasibility of deformable parts orienting. The analysis of the failures showed that for success the assumptions of zero friction are essential for this work, increased manipulator precision would be beneficial but not necessary, and a simple deformation model can be sufficient. Finally, we note that the algorithm has applications to truly sensorless manipulation of non-deformable parts.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2003. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Apr. 12, 2005). Includes bibliographical references.

Samhällets förväntningar kring ansvarstagandet hos företagen har ökat drastiskt under de senaste årtionden. Som följd till detta har antalet företag sedan 1900-talet i större utsträckning börjat redovisa icke-finansiella rapporter frivilligt. Dessa icke-finansiella rapporter har sin benämning idag som hållbarhetsredovisning. Det kvarstående problemet är trovärdighetsgapet på hållbarhetsredovisningarna och som lösning till problemet kan en tredje-part anlitas i syfte att säkerställa att hållbarhetsinformationen är trovärdig. Denna säkerställning som tredje-parten utför benämns bestyrkande. Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur olika faktorer påverkar de svenska börsnoterade företagens val att låta hållbarhetsredovisningar bestyrkas samt valet av bestyrkandegivare. Den positivistiska forskningsfilosofin har använts i uppsatsen och det har anammats en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats. Faktorerna som har undersökts är lönsamhet, branschtillhörigheten, användandet av Global Reporting Initiative (GRI):s riktlinjer samt företagsstorlek. Datainsamlingen har skett genom skriftiga källor där information hämtades från alla 255 svenska börsnoterade företag. Endast 105 av de 255 företagen hade upprättat en hållbarhetsredovisning och ingick i studien. Hypoteserna prövades genom statistiska tester och analyser med utgångspunkt i uppsatsens teoretiska referensram. Resultatet visade att bestyrkande samt val av bestyrkandegivare inte påverkades av lönsamhet. Bestyrkande påverkades inte heller av bransch och GRI, men däremot av storlek. Vidare påverkades bestyrkandegivare inte av storlek, men däremot av bransch och GRI. Detta eftersom de större företagen har bättre resurser och därmed mer råd att bestyrka hållbarhetsredovisningen. De börsnoterade företagen i Sverige som befinner sig inom de sociala- och miljökänsliga branscherna säkerställer sin legitimitet gentemot samhället och därför anlitar de revisorer vid bestyrkandet av hållbarhetsredovisningen. Det föreligger ett åtagande av GRI:s riktlinjer som är förknippat med kravet att lämna trovärdig information. Denna rapporterade information i hållbarhetsredovisningen blir mer trovärdig med bättre kvalitét genom ett bestyrkande av revisorer.

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