An automatic manufacturing station (3) and a manufacturing process for workpieces (2), in particular for vehicle body parts, has a manufacturing area (4) with a plurality of program-controlled manufacturing robots (9). The workpieces (2) are externally fed to the manufacturing station (3) on production load carriers (8). The manufacturing station (3) also has a plurality of work stations (10, 11, 12, 13). A station-bound transport device (15) transports the production load carriers (8) within the manufacturing station (3).

Provided is a method for manufacturing a gas sensor which suppresses a defective product caused by a defective posture of a sensor element therein. The method includes a step of obtaining an assembled body constituting the gas sensor, including steps of: causing one end of the sensor element to come to abut to a positioning member for positioning the sensor element; and applying a first force to the annularly-mounted members including a powder compact annularly mounted to the sensor element under a state that the sensor element is positioned and thereby compressing the powder compact so as to fix the sensor element inside of the tubular body, and the compression is performed while constraining the sensor element in a predetermined constraining region in the other end side of the sensor element.

A vehicle body positioning and locking devices for use in assembling a vehicle body positioned on a movable vehicle support positioned at a vehicle build station. The locking device includes a remote vehicle locking device for selectively securing and locking a vehicle body to a support pallet. The support pallet is accurately and precisely positioned at a build station through alignment and inserting engagement of locating pads in at least one four-way and at least one two way receiver mounted to a build station foundation. A compliant body clamp design is included to provide a desired clamping force between the pallet and a vehicle body across a range of motion of the body clamp to accommodate vehicle build variances.

There is an apparatus for transferring a thin-film element, the apparatus comprising: a belt-type stamp; at least one support roller configured to allow a movement of the stamp; a first-stage roller system including at least one first-stage roller, wherein the first-stage roller is configured to allow thin-film elements attached to a first substrate to be picked up from the first substrate and to be attached to the stamp, wherein; and a second-stage roller configured to allow the thin-film elements attached to the stamp to be picked up from the stamp and to be printed onto a second substrate, wherein a curvature radius of the first-stage roller and a curvature radius of the second-stage roller are different from each other.

A production station for vehicle body parts is configured in a modular manner and has at least two production cells (8, 10; 12, 14), each of which has a separate work area (16, 18; 20, 22). The work areas have uniformly disposed robots (64, 66, 68, 70) and receiving arrangements (32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42) that interact with the robots. At least one transport arrangement (56) for required components (58, 60, 62) and workpieces (44, 46) is provided for both production cells (8, 10; 12, 14). A receiving arrangement store (24, 26; 28, 30; 110) with all of the receiving arrangements is assigned to each production cell (8, 10; 12, 14), and a transport arrangement (48, 50; 52, 54; 111) is provided for at least one production cell. The production cells are coupled to one another via a connecting axle (102) having at least one connecting robot (104).

A method for assembly manufacturing including positioning a workpiece in an assembly position within an operational cell, positioning a fastening machine relative to the workpiece, wherein the fastening machine includes a robot frame comprising a throat, an assembly end effector coupled to the frame about the throat, and a plurality of linear actuators coupled to the frame, moving, by the plurality of linear actuators, the fastening machine about at least one of six degrees of freedom to receive at least a portion of the workpiece within the throat and position the assembly end effector relative to the workpiece, and performing, by the fastening machine, a fastening operation on the workpiece.

An automated assembly apparatus, characterized by comprising an assembly robot having a plurality of hands, the plurality of hands being movable in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction by an X-axis moving unit and a Y-axis moving unit, and a plurality of workbenches which are provided with Z-axis moving unit and which are movable in a Z-axis direction by the Z-axis moving unit. A work area is independently provided for the plurality of workbenches, a width of a predetermined work area among the work areas is larger than clearance widths of the plurality of hands, widths of the work areas other than the predetermined work area are smaller than the clearance widths of at least some of the plurality of hands, and the hand which performs a job on the predetermined work area is disposed at a lowermost level in the Z-axis direction.

Provided is a method for manufacturing a gas sensor capable of securing airtightness without a chip in a sensor element. The method includes a step of obtaining an assembled body constituting the gas sensor, including steps of: causing one end of the sensor element to abut to a positioning member for positioning the sensor element; applying a force F1 to the annularly-mounted members including a powder compact annularly mounted to the sensor element under a state that the sensor element is positioned and thereby compressing the powder compact so as to fix the sensor element inside of the tubular body, applying a force F2 larger than the force F1 to the annularly-mounted members under a state that the sensor element is not positioned and thereby further compressing the powder compact, so as to hermetically seal inside of the tubular body.

A method for assembly manufacturing may include the steps of: (1) positioning, by a material-handling system, an unassembled workpiece in a first assembly position within a tacking cell, (2) performing, by a first plurality of fastening machines, a tack fastening operation on the unassembled workpiece to form a partially assembled workpiece, (3) transferring, by the material-handling system, the partially assembled workpiece from the tacking cell to a fastening cell, (4) positioning, by the material-handling system, the partially assembled workpiece in a second assembly position within the fastening cell, and (5) performing, by a second plurality of fastening machines, a final fastening operation on the partially assembled workpiece to form an assembled workpiece.

An automated assembly apparatus, characterized by comprising an assembly robot having a plurality of hands, the plurality of hands being movable in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction by an X-axis moving unit and a Y-axis moving unit, and a plurality of workbenches which are provided with Z-axis moving unit and which are movable in a Z-axis direction by the Z-axis moving unit. A work area is independently provided for the plurality of workbenches, a width of a predetermined work area among the work areas is larger than clearance widths of the plurality of hands, widths of the work areas other than the predetermined work area are smaller than the clearance widths of at least some of the plurality of hands, and the hand which performs a job on the predetermined work area is disposed at a lowermost level in the Z-axis direction.