Robotic System Autonomously Assembles an IKEA Chair
SINGAPORE—Engineers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) here have developed a robotic system that can autonomously assemble an IKEA chair. The machines feature off-the-shelf components, such as 3D cameras and robotic arms equipped with parallel grippers. Force sensors determine how strongly the fingers are gripping and how powerfully they push objects into contact with each other.
A pair of six-axis Denso robots assembled a Stefan chair in 8 minutes and 55 seconds. Prior to the assembly, the robots took 11 minutes and 21 seconds to independently plan the motion pathways and 3 seconds to locate the parts.