A MODEL AND STRATEGY ANALYSIS OF THE PEG-HOLE SYSTEM IN THE SEARCH PROCESS ASSOCIATED WITH ROBOTIC ASSEMBLY OPERATIONS WITHOUT CHAMFERS

Robotic peg-hole insertion operations can play a very important role i n manufacturing industry because it is a common requirement in the man ufacturing process and, it requires high precision and high speed. In general, this operation can be divided into two processes: Search proc ess to engage the peg and the hole and, insertion process. The search process is critical in the assembly operation. It can be defined as a process where the angular and the translational errors between the peg and the hole are reduced until insertion can occur. In this paper, a theoretic model of the search process without a chamfer has been prese nted. The aim of study was to identify the basic relationships betwen the inputs to the peg-hole system, the movement of the peg and the con tact forces between the peg and the hole. Additionally, an equivalent model has been established. From this study, a simple new search strat egy has been developed and proven in simulations and experiments.