A method of producing a shim for use in an aircraft, the method comprising: providing an aircraft airframe; measuring a surface of the airframe; creating a digital model of the airframe using those measurements; providing an aircraft skin; measuring a surface of the aircraft skin; creating a digital model of the aircraft skin using those measurements; digitally assembling the digital model of the airframe with the digital model of the aircraft skin; using the digitally assembled models, creating a digital model of a shim, the digital model of the shim substantially filling a gap between the digitally assembled digital models of the airframe and the skin; and producing a physical shim using the digital model of the shim.

Systems and methods for assembling structural components are disclosed. The systems and methods consider a sequence, operations of the sequence, and an approach vector in placing structural members (including structural members with pre-attached fasteners) for assembling structural components.

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated fashion. For example, information describing a shoe part may be determined, such as an identification, an orientation, a color, a surface topography, an alignment, a size, etc. Based on the information describing the shoe part, automated shoe-manufacturing apparatuses may be instructed to apply various shoe-manufacturing processes to the shoe part, such as a pickup and placement of the shoe part with a pickup tool.

Systems and methods are provided for aligning a fastener feed mechanism. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes an alignment tool that aligns a fastener feed mechanism with a chamber of a fastening device that receives fasteners. The alignment tool includes a tip section having a diameter less than a diameter of the chamber, a chamber fit section that extends from an end of the tip section in a lengthwise direction and has a diameter corresponding with the diameter of the chamber, a lip that protrudes radially from the chamber beyond the diameter of the chamber, and a fitting member that extends from the lip in the lengthwise direction.

The disclosure is provided to shorten a total allowed cycle time of insertion or a press-fitting operation. A control device of a robot performing insertion or a press-fitting operation includes: a measuring part, measuring an elapsed time from a time point of starting a correcting operation in a case where the insertion or the press-fitting operation does not end normally; a calculating part, calculating a total remaining time of the correcting operation by subtracting a time from a start to an end of the correcting operation from a preset total allowed time of the correcting operation; a comparing part, comparing the remaining time with a required operation time which is an elapsed time from the start to the end of the correcting operation; and a control part, interrupting the correcting operation before the allowed time elapses in a case where the remaining time is less than the required operation time.

A method of assembling or disassembling a housing shelf configured at least from shelf plates and frames, including a step in which a chuck holds a frame; a step of determining, based on an image captured by an imager that captures an image of the frame held by the chuck and positioned at an imaged position, a position of a target portion of the frame on the image; and a step of determining, based on the determined position on the image, at least one correction value for causing a change in a release position for the frame when the frame is released from the chuck onto the shelf plate. The target portion may be an inner wall surface of the frame. An illumination unit may be arranged between the imager and the imaged position of the frame.

Systems and methods are provided for aligning a fastener feed mechanism. One embodiment is an apparatus that includes an alignment tool that aligns a fastener feed mechanism with a chamber of a fastening device that receives fasteners. The alignment tool includes a tip section having a diameter less than a diameter of the chamber, a chamber fit section that extends from an end of the tip section in a lengthwise direction and has a diameter corresponding with the diameter of the chamber, a lip that protrudes radially from the chamber beyond the diameter of the chamber, and a fitting member that extends from the lip in the lengthwise direction.

A robot 140 includes a control unit 160 configured such that a reference line L connecting a root portion of a first arm (upper arm 143) and an end portion of a second arm (forearm 144) is assumed on a main plane determined in a space where the robot 140 is installed, an angle formed by the first arm (upper arm 143) and the reference line L is decreased while increasing a crossing angle between the first arm (upper arm 143) and the second arm (forearm 144) on the side facing the reference line L, the end portion of the second arm (forearm 144) is moved in a work pressurizing direction (F direction) which is determined to be along the reference line L, and a work pressurizing unit (push-in unit 153) is pressurized in the work pressurizing direction (F direction) by the end portion of the second arm (forearm 144).

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for an object feature identification system employed by a robotic are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes the actions of generating a data reading of a work area by scanning the work area with a sensor device of the robot; identifying, by processing the data reading through a learning engine, a particular component of a plurality of components associated with the work area based on a task to be performed; identifying, with the machine learning engine, a particular feature of the particular component used in a completion of the task; determining, with the machine learning engine, a particular tool of a plurality of tools of the robot that is configured to perform the task; and performing the task with the particular tool and the particular feature of the particular component.

A computer-implemented method executed by a robotic system for performing a positional search process in an assembly task is presented. The method includes decomposing, by the robotic system, a perturbation motion into a plurality of actions, the perturbation motion being a motion for an assembly position searched by the robotic system, each action of the plurality of actions related to a specific direction. The method further includes performing reinforcement learning by selecting an action among decomposed actions and assembly movement actions at each step of the positional search process based on corresponding force-torque data received from at least one sensor associated with the robotic system. The method also includes outputting a best action at each step for completion of the assembly task as a result of the reinforcement learning.