Collaborative robotics · Industrial case study
A real-world assembly study combining task analysis, custom 3D-printed gripper fingers and FANUC programming to examine both the value and limits of cobot automation.
At a glance
Context
Precision component assembly
My focus
Task design, tooling and cycle analysis
Tools
FANUC CRX, TP, Siemens NX and SLA printing
The challenge
The case study asked one collaborative robot to manipulate a cap, magazine, reusable guiding cone and a small retaining ring. Ring gripping and insertion were especially sensitive to alignment, friction and vibration.
My contribution
I led the methodology, robot software, experimental investigation and analysis, contributing to the system concept and developing the published technical documentation and visual material.
Engineering approach
- Decompose the manual process into robot-executable operations.
- Design multifunction gripper fingers in Siemens NX and manufacture them with SLA printing.
- Program the FANUC CRX-10iA/L in TP language.
- Iterate through CAD, printing and physical testing to improve the alignment-sensitive steps.
What the experiment showed
Complete robotic execution was technically feasible, but the reported cycle was approximately 50 seconds compared with about 15 seconds manually. The value of the study is therefore not a claim that automation always wins: it exposes the trade-off between flexibility, repeatability, component design and cycle time.
The research setup is distinct from the company’s proprietary implementation and is not presented as a safety-certified collaborative station or commercial deployment.