Modular Assembly Systems: The SPI 3 Research Programme

This paper presents the results of a research funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) within the National Research Programme SPI (Innovative Production Systems), theme 3 (modular assembly systems) and developed by Electrolux Zanussi Research Center in Italy. The research objective is the development and validation of the basic components of a modular architecture for high-performance robotic cells [1]. The reference application is the assembly of rigid and non-rigid small-medium components for the production of domestic appliances. The main targets of the research are: operative flexibility, increment of production rate compared to the existing robotic systems, low cost thanks to modularity, high quality standards of the end product. The main results of the research are presented, showing how the modularity technology has been successfully applied to the pilot plant.