Robotic assembly of printed circuit boards with component feeder location consideration

The use of industrial robots for the assembly of printed circuit boards (PCB) is fast gaining popularity. Minimization of the time required for board assembly while maintaining production quality is the process planner's main task. This task involves the specification of the insertion sequence of components in their respective locations and the assignment of component types to feeders or dispensing magazine slots. The lime taken by a robot to fetch a component for insertion is dependent on the location of the feeder chat holds the component type. Similarly, board assembly time is dependent on the order of component insertion on the board and the fetch time of components between insertions. In this paper, models to minimize the total assembly lime for a board are developed and studied. Factors considered in the analysis of the assembly time are the component assignment to magazine feeders and the sequencing of component placement on the board. The models are developed under four separate assembly station designs. Solutions obtained under these four operating scenarios suggest that the case in which both the board and the magazine move yields the best results in terms of lower assembly time.