DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF

INSTRUMENTED REMOTE CENTRE

COMPLIANCE
M.TECH(R) REGISTRATION SYNOPSIS

TANJOT SETHI
612ID3002
Department of Industrial Design
NIT, Rourkela
AUGUST 4, 2014

Contents
1.Introduction
2.Literature review
3.Statement of problem
4.Research objective
5.Research methodology
6.Work done so far
7.Road map
8.Conclusion
9.References

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List of figures
Fig 1: Research methodology
Fig 2: Isometric view of RCC
Fig 3: Section view of RCC
Fig 4: Section view of RCC
Fig 5: Prototype of machined spring
Fig 6: CAD drawing of spring
Fig 7: Road map

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List of tables
Table 1. Summary of important research
literatures

Abstract
In the field of robotics and automatic assembly tooling, it is often necessary to provide some compliance
when fitting two parts together or when engaging a tool with a complementarily shaped aperture. This
need arises because of the tolerances in gripping and positioning capability of a robot arm and the
dimensional tolerances of the members being positioned. The use of excessive force to engage two
imperfectly aligned members can lead to damage to the members or assembly tooling. A remote centre
compliance (RCC) is a device that can provide a compliance center projected outward from the
device. Remote compliance centers decouple lateral and angular motion. A RCC device can be used in
assembly to ease the insertion force. When a project compliance center is near the insertion point of a
peg-in-hole type assembly, the peg translates into the hole when it strikes the outside lead-in chamfer
without rotating. This translation without rotation prevents the jamming and galling seen from
compliance devices that have a compliance center far away from the insertion point. The proposed work
aims at designing and developing an intelligent RCC device which helps the parts assemble even if
there are misalignments of known limits and is capable of capturing useful information for the assembly
process.

Design and Development of Instrumented Remote Center Compliance

1. Introduction
In the field of robotics and automated assembly tooling, it is often necessary to provide some
compliance when fitting two parts together or when engaging a tool with a complementarily shaped
aperture. This need arises because of the tolerances in gripping and positioning capability of a robot
arm and the dimensional tolerances of the members being positioned. The use of excessive force to
engage two imperfectly aligned members can lead to damage to the members or assembly tooling. The
devices that are used to resolve the situation are usually mechanical linkages of cage-like appearance
with various degrees of flexibility in the links This flexibility and the geometry of the links produces a
"centre of compliance", remote from the compliance device, and located nearer to the anticipated point
of contact of the parts to be positioned. The centre of compliance is such that a pure lateral force applied
at the centre of compliance will produce only a lateral translation without rotation and a pure turning
force (moment) applied about the centre of compliance will cause only rotation about the centre with
no translational movement. In both cases, movement is resisted by a controlled restoring force (or
stiffness). The provision of compliance allows a degree of imprecision in the positioning movements
and is usually cheaper than providing additional sensors to enable finer position control.
Simple compliance, in the sense of general flexibility of mechanical connections, is not, however,
desirable, as this can lead to even greater misfits than the original misalignment. For example, a
misaligned peg can be tilted even further off the axis of a chamfered bore by the moment of the insertion
force about the edge of the bore.
Hence, remote centre compliance (RCC) device supports a part, or other member to be positioned, for
adjustive translatory and/or rotational movement about a centre of compliance, disposed distal from the
device itself, in response to forces and or moments imposed upon the supported member at the re- mote
centre. Although capable of various other utilizations, RCC devices frequently are employed to
compensate for misalignment between mating parts that are to be interconnected during an assembly or
similar operation performed by a robot or other automatic machine.
2. Literature review
The study of previous research work shows that the attention has been given in making the centre of
compliance flexible by using the elastomers, hydraulics and even pneumatics. Different types of flexible
elements have been used to achieve the maximum elasticity, which ultimately decreases the force during
assembly. Few models also use some sensors to get useful information during assembly. Some of the
important research that has taken place so far in the development of the product are summarized in
following table (Table-1).

Table 1. Summary of important research literatures

S.No
.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Author
Paul C. Watson
[1978]

Title

Summary of Research

Remote Center A
remote
centre
Compliance
compliance
system
System, patent
including means for
establishing
the
rotational motion and in
two directions transverse
to radii from the remote
center
Paul C. Watson Instrumented
RCC device having an
[1982]
remote
center operator member and a
compliance
remote
compliance
device, patent
center near the end of the
operator
member,
including one or more
displacement
sensors
proximate the operator
member for sensing the
displacement in one or
more degrees of freedom
of the operator member.
James L. Neins
Folded remote The invented product has
Joseph
center
enlarged error tolerance
Padavano
compliance
and is more compact,
[1982]
device, patent
having decreased length
without increase in
stiffness and has a
greater area of viscous
damping.
Thomas L. De Force detecting This invention address
Fazio
system
for the problem of axia[1984]
remote
center force
determination,
compliance
monitoring, control or
device, patent
documentation during
process, across an RCC
device to protect the
RCC device and work
piece when the force
exceeded safe threshold.
Thomas L. De Adjustable
This device focuses on
Fazio, Daniel E. remote
centre compliance
center
Whitney
compliance,
whose location can be
[1984]
patent
adjusted easily, lateral
stiffness and angular
stiffness of device can be
adjusted easily and
quickly.

Remarks
The basic remote centre
compliance system no
flexible members to
counteract
excessive
force during peg-in-hole
assembly

Though device integrates

the sensors required for
measuring
various
parameters like force,
distance
etc
during
assembly
but
no
mechanism is provided to
adjust according the
recorded
data
from
sensors during assembly.

The major limitation of

the device is that it can be
used for heavy loads.

Though force sensor is

employed
still
the
problem of excessive
force persist as the sensor
just detects the force no
actuator is integrated to
counteract the force.

Though the device is

adjustable but adjustment
is not an active task done
by this device as no
actuators are there which
come in action during
ongoing assembly process

6.

7.

8.

Daniel
Whitney
[1985]

E. Remote center
compliance
gripper system,
patent

The RCC gripper system

is comprised of fewer
parts which reduces the
distance of the remote
centre of compliance
from RCC device.
Jonathan
M. Remote center This patents shows an
Rourke,
compliance
improved remote center
Daniel
E. device, patent
compliance device in
Whitney
which the shear pad
[1985]
flexures are prestressed
into compression or
arranged in juxtaposition
to another set of flexures,
so that in operation there
are
flexures
in
compression
and
flexures in tension.
Pavel J. Drazan Manipulating
This patent shows a new
[1986]
Unit, patent
design of RCC by using
gas, sensing nozzles and
bellows to realise either
planar
or
angular
misalignment.

9.

Palol R. Zafred, Remote center

Luciano
compliance
Veronesi
device, patent
[1986]

10.

Chi-Cheng
Cheng,
Gin-Shan Chen
[1999]

Passive Multiple
remote
center
compliance
device, patent

11.

Jack Rebman
[1989]

Hydraulic
remote
center
compliance
device, patent

12.

Sang-cheol
Won,
Sangcheol lee
[ 2002]

Remote Center
compliance
system having
variable center,
patent

High
degree
of
translation and rotational
compliance because of
which it is easily capable
of transmitting torque
MRCC is able to
accomplish insertion and
mating maneuvers for
asymmetrical
work
pieces.
Five degrees of freedom
to enhance dexterity of
the robot arm under
various circumstances.
As the name says this
device take support of
hydraulics
and
elastomers
for
positioning. This device
does not employ a bulky
focalized construction
for compliance.
Remote
Center
compliance having a
variable
center,
plurality of elastic bodies
between the upper and
lower plates

The gripper is stacked

with RCC device which
ceases the flexibility of
RCC device.

Prestressing maintains the

flexures in compression
and prevents breakage of
shear pads in contact.
(Solved the problems
mentioned under 1 and 5)

Bellows take up large

space,
though sensing nozzles
are used nothing is said
about force minimization.
Just a different approach
of making RCC
High degree translation
makes system too flexible
such
that
assembly
process requires time to
reach completion
Complicated
structure,
Nothing done to minimize
insertion force

This device could have

included active fluid
means by employing
sensors in it.

No sensors to ensure the

correctness of assembly,
(Further improvement of
7)

13.

Sang-Wan
[2008]

Joo Remote Centre

Compliance
Device With one
elastic
Body,
patent

This patent shows A

RCC
device
for
correcting a centre error
between a boss and
force-insertion
part
through a translation
based
on
elastic
principle.

This device rely on

mechanical elastic centre
which again cant react
instantaneously to the
applied force.

The first and the most basic RCC device was designed by Paul C Watson [1978] that entails elastic
members to provide rotation and translation about compliance center. After some advancements Paul
C Watson [1982] made the new design by integrating force sensors in the device to record the forces
but the device was passive one it used mechanical cage like structure for minimizing the excessive
forces during assembly. James L. Neins and Joseph Padavanos [1982] made compact version of Paul
C Watsons [1978] RCC, due to compactness this RCC was not able to transmit heavy loads. Jonathan
M. Rourke [1985] used prestressed the elastic members and increased the load carrying capacity of
previous versions of RCC. The new concept was proposed by Pavel J. Drazan [1986] he used
pneumatics his RCC was comprised of bellows and nozzles which made it complicated, neither that
design did anything significant in reducing the forces. Got inspired from Pavel J. Drazan [1986], Jack
Rebman[1989] used hydraulics but the design was complex. Sang-wan Joo [2008] introduced new
concept with one elastic body he was successful in minimizing forces to some extent.

The review of literatures shows that researchers have attempted to reduce mating forces to great extent
and were successful in preventing jamming still limitations persists which are needed to be eradicated
by fabricating a flawless device. Most common of them are.

Though use of elastic members decreases force and prevents jamming but on the other side it
increases assembly time.
The shear pad performance is effected by environment such as temperature and oil.
The vibration results in wear of shear pad which are employed in current RCC that are being
used in industry.
All devices depend on mechanical links which makes the device passive and cannot be
controlled in ongoing assembly.
These devices can only be employed to perform assembly on chamfered holes

3. Statement of the Problem

Considering the research and development of various types of RCC devices for robotic assembly so far
the present proposal aims at designing and developing an intelligent RCC device which can be
integrated with the robot system to behave as an integral part of the main robot used for accomplishing
the assembly work.

4. Research objective
Concluding from the literature review, the objective of present research is:

To come out with a novel design of the RCC device and replace the elastomers to increase the
life of device and cut-down the cost.
To create an active device comprising of required sensors to perform robotic assembly.
To integrate vision system with the robot system for locating the required coordinates and
dimensions.
To design an active positioning system for orienting peg axis with hole axis for successful
assembly.

5. Research methodology
Based on the research objective the research methodology is broadly divided into six phases as
mentioned below:

Phase 1

Phase 2

CAD modelling of the new RCC concept.

Designing and prototyping of the substitute elastomers of RCC.

Fabrication of the basic RCC consisting of top plate, bottom plate and the substitute
elastomers.
Phase 3

Phase 4

Integration of vision system in RCC for discrete shapes of products to be assembled.

Designing of system to collect data from image processing module and accordingly
align the axis of peg with hole of product.
Phase 5

Phase 6

Fusing of all the modules to complete the final product

Fig: 1 Research methodology

6. Work done so far

Phase 1: CAD modelling of new concept
Considering the various existing designs being used in industry design shown in fig.1 is the most
suitable one for the new RCC.

Top
Plate

Positioning
system

Machined spring
(Substitute elastomer)

Bottom Plate
Fig: 2 Isometric view of RCC

Fig: 3 Section view of RCC

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Fig: 4 Section view of RCC

Phase 2: Designing and prototyping of the substitute elastomers of RCC

Since the vibrations, temperature, oil etc result in wear of elastomers so they needed to be replaced by
something new which can withstand temperature and vibrations. Machined springs seemed to be the
accurate replacement for it. Prototype of the spring was made to confirm the desired properties required
for the particular purpose as shown in fig.5.

Fig: 5 Prototype of machined spring

From the fabricated prototype it was concluded that design of spring required to replace the elastomer
should have minimal number of threads so the design of the spring that will be used in actual design is
shown in fig.6.

All dimensions are in mm

Fig: 6 CAD Drawing of spring

7. Road map

Fig: 7 Road map

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8.

Conclusion

A new efficient and flawless device with greater life span will be fabricated. It will have ability to
minimize the repeatability error and excessive forces during peg-in-hole type assembly. Integration of
vision system and positioning system will make the assembly precise.

9. References
Bellouard Yves[2004], Remote center of rotation positioning device, US patents7284459
Cheng Chi-Cheng, Cheng Kaohsiung, Chen Gin-Shan[1999], Passive multiple remote center
Compliance device, US patents 5909941
De Fazio Thomas L., Whitney Daniel E.,[1984] Adjustable remote center Compliance device, US
patents 4537557
De Fazio Thomas L [1984], Force detecting system for remote Center compliance device, US patents
4477975
Drazan Pavel J[1986], Manipulating unit, US patents 4571148
Joo Sang-Wan[2007], Remote center compliance device with one elastic body, US patents 421799
Joo Sang-Wan[2004], Remote center compliance deviceUS6792689
Nevins James L., Padavano Joseph[1982], Folded remote center compliance Device, US patents
4440031
Rebman Jack[1989], Hydraulic remote center compliance device, EP patents 1870197B1
Rourke Jonathan M., Whitney Daniel E[1985], Remote center compliance device, US patents 4571148
Watson Paul C[1982], Instrumented remote center Compliance device, US patents 4337 579
Watson Paul C[1978], Remote center compliance system, US patents 4316329
Whitney Daniel E[1985], Remote center compliance gripper System, US patents 4556203
Won Sang-cheol, Lee Sang-cheol[2001], Remote center compliance system having variable center, US
patents 6473985
Zafred Paolo R , Veronesi Luciano[1986], Remote center compliance device, US patents 4627169

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