A wiring harness assembly cell includes an automation zone housing a robot for performing automated assembly operations on a series of wiring harness assembly boards. A plurality of wiring harness assembly stations is located about the automation zone, each including one or more wiring harness assembly boards holding the wiring harnesses. Manual operator zones are located outside the automation zone that are associated with the wiring harness assembly stations. The wiring harness assembly stations are reconfigurable between a first configuration in which a first wiring harness assembly board faces the manual operator zone such that it is accessible to a manual operator, and a second configuration in which it faces the automation zone such that it is accessible to the robot. The robot is moved within the automation zone between a plurality of assembly locations where it accesses and operates on the respectively the plurality of wiring harness assembly stations.

A cable-laying device for producing wiring or cable harnesses of different types includes a laying plane for positioning lines of a wiring or cable harness, a plurality of transport units which can be moved relative to the laying plane in an at least partially automated manner, and a control device which is configured to control the transport units. A method for producing cable harnesses of different types by using a cable laying device is also provided.

A retaining fixture for attachment to a wire-harness board comprises a base, a first arm, a second arm, a first gripping member, and a second gripping member. The first arm extends from the base. The second arm extends from the base. The first gripping member is coupled to the first arm and comprises a first-gripping-member surface that is convex toward the second arm. The second gripping member is coupled to the second arm and comprises a second-gripping-member surface that is convex toward the first arm. The first gripping member and the second gripping member are resiliently deformable.

A multi-core cable core aligning device is composed of a temporary holding mechanism, which is configured to arrange tips of a plurality of cores exposed at one end of a multi-core cable in a row along a predetermined arranging direction, and temporarily hold each one of the plurality of cores in such a manner as to be movable along the predetermined arranging direction, a transferring mechanism, which is configured to transfer the plurality of cores one by one while separating the plurality of cores held by the temporary holding mechanism one by one from other ones of the plurality of cores, and an aligning mechanism, which is configured to align and hold the plurality of cores with a predetermined space between adjacent ones of the plurality of cores while holding the plurality of cores transferred by the transferring mechanism one by one at spaced intervals.

A method of manufacturing a wiring harness for a work vehicle includes providing a tool board assembly having a tool board base, wire supports extending from the tool board base each having a wire holder on a top end thereof distal from the tool board base, and a plurality of I/O connector holders extending from the tool board base and each having an angularly adjustable connector mount. A wiring harness is provided having a main harness branch and a plurality of breakout harness branches extending off the main harness branch, with each breakout harness branch having an I/O connector at an end thereof. The wiring harness is configured, via arranging thereof on the tool board assembly, to arrange the breakout harness branches at a plurality of breakout angles relative to the main harness branch and at oblique-angle orientations that are non-parallel and non-perpendicular to the tool board base.

Systems and methods for designing and assembling form boards with attached wire routing devices for use in wire bundle assembly. The assembly method comprises: (a) establishing a coordinate system of a form board having a multiplicity of holes; (b) using a computer system to determine locations of form board devices of different types with reference to the coordinate system of the form board based on engineering data specifying a wire bundle configuration; and (c) fastening the form board devices of different types to respective holes of the form board having centers closest to respective locations determined in step (b). The form board devices may be inserted robotically or manually.

Methods and apparatus for temporarily holding one end of a wire on a harness form board during automated transfer from one robot to another robot. The apparatus includes a wire holding device which is designed to facilitate the transfer of a wire end from a first end effector of a first robot to a second end effector of a second robot. The wire holding devices have different structures, but share the common feature that opening of the wire holding device (to enable wire insertion) involves applying a contact force which overcomes a spring force that urges the wire holding device to be closed. The end effectors are designed and their movements are controlled in a manner such that the moving end effector applies the contact force necessary to overcome the closure-inducing spring force being exerted.

Methods and apparatus for robot motion control and wire dispensing during automated routing of wires onto harness form boards. The robot includes a manipulator arm and a wire-routing end effector mounted to a distal end of the manipulator arm. The wire-routing end effector is configured for dispensing and routing a wire along a path through form board devices mounted to a harness form board. The wire-routing end effector is moved along a planned path under the control of a robot controller. An end effector path is provided with a set of processes that enable rapid, even fully automatic, development of robot motion controls for routing wires on harness form boards. The system uses a measurement encoder on the end effector that is routing individual wires on a wire harness form board to learn the length of each wire and its length variation.

A wire harness producing device configured to produce a wire harness by displaying a wire laying-out drawing in a full size in a length direction on a plurality of display devices, and laying-out electric wires along the wire laying-out drawing. The device includes a displaying control section configured to look up operation recipe information configured as a database capable of identifying wire laying-out order numbers of the electric wires, and in turn display wire laying-out position indicators configured to indicate positions of the electric wires to be laid out, on the plurality of display devices, according to a wire laying-out order of the electric wires. The operation recipe information includes coordinate information for indicating displaying positions for the wire laying-out position indicators. The displaying control section is configured to display the wire laying-out position indicators, in the displaying positions indicated by the coordinate information on the plurality of display devices.

Systems and methods for designing and assembling form boards with attached wire routing devices for use in wire bundle assembly. The assembly method comprises: (a) establishing a coordinate system of a form board having a multiplicity of holes; (b) using a computer system to determine locations of form board devices of different types with reference to the coordinate system of the form board based on engineering data specifying a wire bundle configuration; and (c) fastening the form board devices of different types to respective holes of the form board having centers closest to respective locations determined in step (b). The form board devices may be inserted robotically or manually.