Automated AGS Kitting Station

Abstract

[EN]Kitting is a critical process in every single industrial system which involves mass production, assembly and complex logistics, and it can be considered as a shipping and warehouse technique that has become popular with the development of more complex manufacturing and production systems. Kitting is manually done by an operator, which involves wasting time and money while undertaking a task which is not value-adding for the final product. This work presents the concept model and operations of an Automated Kitting Station, which automates the kitting process completely and allows for future integration within an Automated Production Process. The 3D-Model, layout, process and implementation have been assessed and developed, and the Automated Kitting System and its operations have been validated through a ROS and Gazebo based simulation environment. The kitting task is done by a Robot Manipulator, which is capable of undertaking the materials pick and place tasks in real time as soon as kitting requests are done. The results demonstrate that the manual kitting process can effectively be transformed and improved by implementing automation to it. Higher efficiency and accuracy are obtained, the material flow is better monitored and a complete control of the kitting process is obtained. The simulation shows an accurate performance of the robot and a quick and effective response to an external kitting request.