Economical justification of flexible microassembly cells

Abstract

Cost is a most important factor to take into account when choosing an assembly system. Traditional choice between manual and automatic assembly with several degrees of partial automation is no longer possible in microassembly. Automation is crucial for precision and quality in handling and attachment of microcomponents. We show the economical interest of a very flexible semi-automatic assembly cell, and when it is most cost-effective. We propose a realization based on a high precision robot and an Intuitive Programming Interface.