GRAPHIC INTERFACE APPLIED TO THE SELF-TESTING OF PNEUMATIC THREE-AXIS MANIPULATOR ROBOT

Abstract

Currently, industries invest in the automation of their production lines to meet the variations in production demands imposed by consumer markets and also to maintain appropriate standards of quality, production losses, manufacturing times, costs, and flexibility. To meet this set of requirements, production cells equipped with manipulator robots are installed at specific points in these manufacturing lines. Due to the importance of the robotic system in operating these cells, it is advantageous for it to undergo a sequence of tests to estimate its operational integrity before being fully utilized in production. In this context, this work presents a proposal for a graphical interface to be integrated into the physical architecture that controls the operation of a pneumatic, Cartesian, three-axis manipulator robot, in order to serve as a means for the system user to perform a self-test for preliminary operational evaluation of sensors and actuators present in this robot. The effectiveness of the graphical interface components is validated through tests performed on a prototype, and positive results observed in these tests indicate that the proposal presented in this work is suitable for its intended purpose.