JPRS ID: 9922 WEST EUROPE REPORT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: JPRS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000400040034-6
• Release Decision: RIF
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: November 1, 2016
• Sequence Number: 34
• Content Type: REPORTS

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JPRS L/9922
20 August 1981
West E u ro e Re ort
p p
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CFOUO 9/81)
FBIS FOREIGN BROADCAST INFORMATION SERVICE
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JPRS L/9922
20 August 1981
WEST EUROPE REPORT
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(FOUO 9/81)
CONTENTS
' INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY
Seminar Held on Advanced Handling Systems
(Herbert Becker; VDI-Z, Apr R1) 1
Government Shows Interest for Machine Tool Industry
- (AIR & COSMOS, 4 Jul 81) 3
Fiat Continues Automation With Purchase of Swedish Robots
iPaola Capudi; IL MONDO, 3 Jul 81) 5
TRANSPORTATION
Briefs
Shorts 360 Updating 7
Ceramic Fibers Study Group ~
- a- . LIII - WE - 151 S&T FOUO]
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INDUSTRIAL TECI~TOLOGY
SEMINAR HELD ON ADVANCED HANDLING SYSTEMS
Duesseldorf VDI-Z in ~erman No 7 Apr 81 pp 265-266
[Article by Dipl. Phys. Herbert BECker: "Project 'Very Advanced Handling Systems':
A Gripper System With Tactile Sensors for Industrial Robots"]
[Text] On February 3, 1981, the Fraunhofer Institute for In~ormation and Dat
Processing (IITB, Karlsruhe) sponsored for the second time a seminar which offered
an overview of research results fram the project "Very Advanced Handling Systems."1
The participants learned that significant progress has been made in several areas
campared to the f irst seminar,2 which was held on 2 and 3 April, 1979. AmoZg other
things, it was clear from papers and presentations that a control system dynamic
analysis of the behavior of programmable manipulators is indispensable if the mo-
tion sequences are to be ogtimized according to prescribed criteria. It was also
shown that today manipulating tasks of great complexity can be mastered by computer
evaluation of video picture information. By this method it was possible, for ex-
ample, to perfect the following action sequence for the arm and gripper of an in-
dustrial robot:
--to bring the gripper from rest to the neighborhood of a part in a single motion
upon recognition of the part on a moving conveyor;
--to track the part and while trackix~g to orient the gripper with the present posi-
tion (a statistical quantity) of the part;
--to grasp the part; and finally,
- --to place the part upon a pallet in a specified orientation, even when the pall.et
has translational motion. Another manipulation task which already appears solvable
is the generation of a prescribed surface in a spatial coordinate system by form
grinding or milling. Pilot tests, in which the parts to be worked are heavy billets
with large dimensions, will serve to demonstrate the important advantages wh~ch this
process presumably offers in comparison to conventional manual working.
A prototyp e of the Modular Tactile Gripper/Sensor System (MTGS) developed at the
Fraunhofer Institute for Production Engineering and Automation (IPA, Stuttgart) was
also presented at the seminar. The MTGS is intended primarily for industrial robots
which will be employed in manufacturing for the solution of assembly tasks such as
joining parts. The MTGS camponents can be combined to produce a gripper system with
, 1
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sensors for monitoring assembly forces, assembly motions and gripper forces whose
properties arP taiZored both for a particular industrial robot and for the manipu-
lation task to be acconplished. Such a gripper system has a multi-dimensional com-
pl:iant structure which permits passive accommodation of tolerance deviations or
position errors in joining processes. This compliance in 5 axes is achieved by ap-
propriately desigr:ed elastameric elements. The system is also compliant in the
~ axial direction, up to 8 mm in direct lift.
A gripper system consisting of MTGS components can be coupled to an industrial via
- a standardized interfacp. Thi.s interface was so designed that an automatic change
of grippers or tools is possible for current industrial robots. Also, mechanical,
pneumatic and electrical energy a:, well as electrical si~nals can be transmitted
between a robot's arm and a task-tailored gripper or tool via the interface. A dc
stepping motor or a double-acting pneumatic cylinder can be used to actuate the
gripper. A parallel-jaw gripper driven by a dc motor and using microswitches in
the gripper for controlling gripper fnrces is available. A pneumatically-driven
two-fingered gripper is now under development as is also a screw tool driven by a
dc motor which is suitable for joining threated parts under certain conditions.
Tailored adapters are avilable for Unima.tion's Puma3 and Olivetti's Sigma4 assembly
robots. An interface controller equipped with a micro-conputer employing a Zilog
_ Z-80 processor will also be available in the future.
FOOTNOTES
1. The responsible project agency is the Nuclear Research Center Karlsruhe GmbH,
specif ically within the framework of the Manufacturing Technology Program of
- the Federal Min istry for Research and Technology.
2. The papers which were presented at this seminar as well as a summary of thE
concluding discussion can be found in: Wege zu sehr Fortgeschrittenen
Handhabungssystemen" [Paths to Very Advanced Handling Systems] published by
H. Steusloff and "Fachberichte Messen, Steuern, Rege'.n" [Technical Reports
on Measurement, Guidance and Control], Vol 4, edited by M. Sybre and M. Thoma;
_ Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.
3. "Manipulator fuer die Autamatische M~ntage" [Manipulator for Automatic Assembly],
VDI-Z Vol 121 (1979) No 11, p 601.
4. Industrial Handling 78; Becker, H.; VDI-Z Vol 120 (1978) No 8, pp 341-349.
COPYRIGHT; VDI-Verlag GmbH, Duesseldorf 1981
9160
CSO; 3102/334
2
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INDIISTRIAL TECHNOLOGY
GOVERi~NT SHOWS I~iTEREST FOR MACHIi~TE T00'L II~ID'JSTRY
Paris AIR & COSMOS in French 4 Jul 81 p 13
[Article: "Hope for an Industry in Crisis...the Government Is Showing Concern for
the Machine Tool Industry"; passages enclosed in slantlines printed in boldface)
[Text] During a recent meeting of the Council of Ministers, the President of the
Republic stated: "The government is rightly devoting attention to the large in-
dustrial problem areas; our economic recovery depends upon solutions to those
. problems. Among them I attach particular importance to the machine tool sector
within which several fi~-ms are in difficulty. There can be no question of abandon-
ing an activity so important in our industrial growth.
"I shall ask the government to develop a plan for restructuring this whole sector
around several units capable of providing lasting gua.rantees of employment. In ad-
dition, the research and development effort in ma.chine tools, automation, and in-
dustrial robots will be intensified so as to ena.ble those fields to utilize the
changes naw in progress, and to give France a modern and competitive capital equip-
ment industry."
Very recently the Minister for Research, Mr. Chevenement, has included robots among
the priority items of his activity.
This interest by the government occurs at the very time that one of the large
companies in this sector/, LINE, is experiencing serio+ss difficulties./ Let us re-
call that the aeronautical industry was directly sol;.cited to give its support to
restructuring that sector but does not appear to be interested.
Incidentally, let us note that imports from Japan dominated the proceedings of the
European Co~nittee for Cooperation of Machine Tool Industries (CECIMO) c~uring the
meeting just held at The Hague.
Even though the 1980 figures are rather satisfactory overall, the delegations never-
theless expressed their /fears of the results of Japanese penetration/ in the
market for certain types of machines, in particular, milling stations, ntmterically
controlled lathes, and stamping presses.
The CECIMO members b~lieve that serious intervention on the part of competent au-
thorities, /an order that effective measures/ consistent with the principles of
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market economics and the arrangements of the GATT /be taken without delay, with
a view toward equalizing campetitive conditions between the member countries of
CECIMO and Japa.n./
COPYRIGHT: A. & C. 1980
11706
CSO: 3102/338
~
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INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY
FIAT CONTINUES AUTOMATION WITH PURCHASE OF SWEDISH ROBOTS
Milan IL MONDO in Italian 3 Jul 81 p 87
[Article by Paola Capudi: "Robotics--FIAT Chooses the Swedish"]
[Text] The 15 skilful laborers that FIAT is about to buy cost 120 million lire
each, and are capable of handling an entire assembly line by themselve~s. The skilled
laborers are the IRb-60 robots from the Swedish firm ASEA [Swedish General Electric
Company] (the world's third-ranking producer), with which FIAT is about to conclude a
contract for the supplying of an initial stock of 15 robots, and another 20 subse-
quently. They will be used on the first completely automated production line for
axles, which is to go into operation in the Turin area within a year and a half.
In FIAT, Comau, Unimation, Cincinnati and Dea robots are already installed in the
painting, welding and assembly departments; for the axle line, the choice has gone to
the Swedish firm ASEA because of the favorable character~stics/cost ratio. Tts xo-
bots do indeed have a high degree of flexibility: they are capable of performing all
the manufacturing processes, from handling to final assembly, and then, with certain
modifications of the brain and body, they can be used for different production work.
The IRb-60 has a capacity of 60 kg at 20 cm from the center of the wrist (while the
IRb-6 has a 6-kg capacity) and a working field of about 4.5 m diameter, with posi-
tioning precision of 0.4 mm, more or less. The adaptation programs, which raise the
robot's price, enable it to learn part of the programs automatically or to modify the
existing ones in function of the signals picked up by the sensors, to seek the object
to be taken, and to vary the speed of movement in relation to the position of the
piece to be carried.
Italy is not lagging behind in the robotics sector; in fact, it holds six*_h place in
tne world (after Japan, the USSR, the United States, Sweden, the FRG) in number of
robots installed, which was 353 in 1980--considering only the programable multipurpose
manipulators--and as high as about 600 ~f one considers also the simplest robots,
that perform only one type of operation. The level of sophistication is high too
(one need only think of Dea's Pragma 3000 or Olivetti's Sigma); but the limiting fac-
tor (which in certain aspects is a valued quality) of a large part of the Italian
products is that of excessive specialization: that is, they are designed in function
of a specific production task, and their range of use is therefore limited.
For the automobile industry, automation is a necessary choice, especially for cost-
saving, which derives from a productivity increase presently estimated at around 30
percent. But in addition to the economic advantages, the robot offers human advan-
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� 1)
~ M.)
DY _ i .
. ~ 'r ~ r. ,~t e
~ 77..',''�.'7p....�~..
ASEA's IRb-60 and IRb-6
Ke.y :
1. Multipurpose robots installed in Italy (units)
tages too, especially in the performance of heavy, repetitive and dangerous tasks.
The effects of robotics on employment are still negligible: it is calculated that in
the entire world, there are presently 12,000 servocontrolled robots (the most sophis-
ticated ones) at work, and that if used on 2 shifts, they would take the place of
' 24,000 workers (a robot is already economical if it replaces 1 worker on 1 shift).
More than theoretical difficulties, though, the development of robotics still faces
practical difficulties, especially in Italy, such as the problem of human resources--
that is, the scarcity of technicians with an adequate level of preparation--or cul-
tural difficulties, such a~ the diffidence of many small industrial operators who are
unaware of the limitless range of application of robots in the most diverse fields.
Precisely in order to overcome this obstacle (and for obvious commercial reasons),
ASEA will inaugurate a Robotics Center near Milan this Fall: 200 ~h2 for a robotics
section and a hut of another 200 m2 housing a room-laboratory for experimentation and
customer training. The objective is mainly to make the distinct uses clear. The
biggest slice of the market at present is the automobile industry, which has a very
- discontinuous pattern of demand, while if the number of smaller firms were increased,
there would be a more stable, and therefore more programable, pattern of sales. The
fields of application of the ASEA robots are in particular foundry work and sophisti-
cated manipulation.
COPYRIGHT: IL MONDO, 1981
11267
CSO: 3102/325
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'I'ItANS f'Ult'L'AT 1UN
BRIEFS
SHORTS 360 UPDATING--Since the LeBourget Salon three more airlines have ordered a
total of 10 Shorts 360 airplanes. This brings the number of orders and options
received for the new Irish commuter airplane to 21, coming from 21 airlines, in-
cluding 4 American, 1 British, 1 Colombian, and 1 Australian. On 22 June the
- prototype had accumulated 20 flying hours, and completely satisfied Shorts' chief
test pilot, Lindsay Cuuuning. The manufacturer recently displayed a scale model
of the interior cabin arrangement to more than 250 persons in Washington. Remem-
ber that the first production airplane will be delivered to Suburban Airlines at
the end of the next year. [Text] [Paris AIR & COSMOS in French 4 Jul 81 p 18]
[COPYRIGHT: A. & C. 1980] 11706
CERAMIC FIBERS STUDY GROUP--Lafarge Refactaires, a subsidiary of Lafarge Coppie,
and the European Propulsor Company (SEP) are establishing a GIE [economic inter-
est group] for study and research devoted to the development of ceramic fibers.
This agreement i.s the first stage of wider cooperation in ma.nufacture and sale
of fibers enteriMg into the composition of sophisticated materials intended, in
particular, for aeronautical and space applications. [Text] [Paris LETTRE DE
L'EXPANSION in French 6 Jul 8~. p 5] [COP'YRIGHT: 1981, GROUPE EXPANSION, SoA,]
11706
CSO: 3 102/338 END
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