AUTOMATION OF SHIPBOARD BOMB ASSEMBLY OPERATIONS

AN AUTOMATION SYSTEM UTILIZING TECHNOLOGIES OF ROBOT MANIPULATOR AND AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE (AGV) IS PROPOSED FOR THE SHIPBOARD BOMB ASSEMBLY OPERATION. THE AGV SYSTEM IS AN INDUSTRIAL PROVEN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR MATERIAL HANDLING IN A RELATIVELY UNCHANGED ENVIRONMENT WITH MINIMAL HUMAN SUPERVISION REQUIRED. THE FEASIBILITY OF UTILIZING THE AGV SYSTEM FOR BOMB TRANSPORTATION AND WEAPON HANDLING IN THE LOWER DECKS OF AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER BASED ENVIRONMENT WILL BE STUDIES. THE ROBOT MANIPULATOR SYSTEM WHICH WILL CONSIST OF TWO OR MORE SPATIAL POSITIONING MANIPULATORS IS PROPOSED FOR THE BOMB ASSEMBLY OPERATION IN THE ASSEMBLY AREA. EACH MANIPULATOR IN THE SYSTEM WILL BE CONFIGURED GENERALLY IN THE SIMPLEST FORM, AND WILL HANDLE A PARTICULAR ASSEMBLY PROCESS. EACH WILL WORK IN A COORDINATEDFASHION WITH THE OTHERS AND THE AGV SYSTEM. SENSOR SYSTEMS FOR OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE, LOCAL AND GLOBAL NAVIGATION, AND POSITION/PART DETECTION WILL BE INCORPORATED IN THIS STUDY. THE USE OF HIGH SPEED MICRO-COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE WITH MULTIPROCESSING CAPABILITIES YIELDING A COST-EFFECTIVE, HIGH PRODUCTIVITY BACKGROUND, CONTROL/ MONITOR SYSTEM WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED.