How organizations use ICT
Car Manufacture
Objectives
• Have an understanding of how organizations
use ICT.
• Be able to describe a number of uses, giving
the hardware and software requirements.
• Be able to describe the applications that these
uses can be put to.
• Robotic arms are used
extensively in car
manufacture
• Robotic arms generally
have 7 sections with 6
joints
• Each joint is controlled
by an actuator (a
stepper motor)
Stepper Motors
• Normal DC motors spin either forwards or
backwards when current is applied
• A stepper motor moves in very small
steps instead
• It makes a precise number of stepped
revolutions to move the robotic arm in very
small increments to the correct position.
• Paint car bodies
• Put on wheels
• Drill holes in car
bodies
• Fix rivets
• Tighten bolts
• Assemble electrical
circuits
• Insert engines
• The computer controls
the movement of the
arm so that a variety of
jobs can be carried out.
• The jobs carried out
depend on the end
effector attached to the
arm.
Types of end effector
Gripper
• To pick up parts & put
them somewhere else
• Grippers usually have
pressure sensors built in to
them
• These sensors tell the
robot how hard it is
gripping something so that
the robot doesn’t drop or
break it
Camera
– To inspect work
– Quality control
purposes
Welding gun
• To weld parts of the
car body together
• Welding can be
hazardous to
humans
Vacuum cups
• To pick up parts
without
obstructing the
sides or bottom
• Small complex
car parts
• Windscreens/
flat sheets of
metal etc
Drills
– To make holes in the car body
Screwdrivers
• Also spanners and
riveters
• To place and tighten
screws, nuts, bolts
and rivets
Spray guns
• To paint the car
body
• Paint fumes are
dangerous to
humans
Sanders/polishers
• To produce a shiny finish after painting
End effectors
• A robot arm can have any of the previous end
effectors
• If the end effector is changed, the programming must
also be changed
Why use robots?
• Designed to perform
the same task/
operation over and
over again
• For a person, this
would be repetitive &
boring
• Greater accuracy than a human
• Lower running costs compared with
paying a human
• Do not get tired
• Work is consistent standard
• Continuous process, no need for breaks
or shift changes
• A programmer
guides the arm
through each step
– Either by remote
control
– Or by physically
holding the arm with
sensors attached
• Computer stores
exact sequence of
movements in its
memory