Development of a computer-aided fixture design system for lightweight grippers in the automotive industry

Abstract

The need for dedicated fixtures for flexible manufacturing systems is increasing, as dedicated fixtures are lighter, more compact, and more accurate than flexible fixtures. The main challenges are that parts and processes are becoming more and more complex, which requires designing novel or complex dedicated fixtures, and that, for one given flexible fixture to be replaced, several variants of such dedicated fixtures must be designed to hold a variety of individual parts, without causing increased costs and delays. The systematic fixture design method and computer-aided fixture design system (CAFDS) developed and applied for the presented industrial case - novel design of a lightweight (carbon fibre composite) robot gripper - is a possible approach to addressing these issues.