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Humans easily outperform machines when it comes to tightening and loosening screw fasteners. The future of manufacturing and recycling may depend on changing that.
In the pantheon of technologies that make our modern society possible, one of the most underappreciated and neglected is the threaded fastener, more commonly known as the screw. This technology emerged at the dawn of the industrial era, when it became possible to make metal gadgets like these on a large scale.
Today, these devices literally hold the world together. Our 21st-century lifestyles would not be possible without them, and they are likely to play an indispensable role for the foreseeable future.
Yet in a world where manufacturing techniques are increasingly automated, there is a problem. The process of screwing and unscrewing is still one in which humans outperform machines. Robotic devices have difficulty locating screws and their sockets and then manipulating screws and screwdrivers effectively.
[...] These researchers are part of a team building robots that can take apart electronic devices, like smartphones, for recycling. The project is called RecyBot, and its goal is to create a high-speed intelligent robotic system for dismantling electronics.
That's a considerable challenge, and one of the biggest headaches is unscrewing. So the team at least have this under their belt. But the same technology could be applied in a wide range of smart factories that have to assemble and disassemble components.
Source: https://www.hardocp.com/news/2018/02/13/humans_screw_much_better_than_killer_robots/
Source: Haptics of Screwing and Unscrewing for its Application in Smart Factories for Disassembly
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Friday February 16 2018, @03:22AM
A big part of the problem with screws is the shitty heads on them, namely the old slotted head, and also the Phillips head. The slotted one gets reamed out pretty easily, and the screwdriver slips out very easily. Phillips ones are even worse for getting cammed out, though better for not slipping out. Honestly, both these stupid old standards should be banned for new products. We have far, FAR better things available now: Torx and Robinson (square) for starters, and even Allen head (internal hex) is a huge improvement.
If you use a good screw head in your product, robotic assembly shouldn't be a big problem, and should be better than humans since the robot can use a built-in torque gauge to get it torqued exactly right every time, unlike the human who, if he's American, will just refuse to use a torque wrench at all because he thinks he knows better. (Workers in tire shops are especially notorious for this.)