Rigid Part Mating

• Goals of this class

– understand the phases of a typical part mate
– determine the basic scaling laws
– understand basic physics of part mating for simple
geometries
– relate forces and motions arising from geometric errors

– compare logic branching and direct error-feedback part

mating strategies

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Basic Bandwidth Issues and Time-Mass-

Distance Scaling Laws

• Torque required to move a mass M at the end of an

arm of length L in time T is proportional to

– M L2/T2

• This implies that really fast motions must be really

small or use a small arm with small mass
• I estimated
– my hand’s mass = 250g, effective length = 10cm
– my arm + hand’s mass = 1700g, effective length = 35 cm
– ratio arm:hand of ML2 = T2 = 85
• Don’t forget: arm mass+payload mass=M
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Main Phases of a Part Mating Event

contact
force

Approach Chamfer One-point Two-point Line

Crossing Contact Contact Contact

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
Required Bandwidth for Chamfer Crossing

lateral motion

0.5E
E/2
E
time
20E/V
E/2V
0.5E/V 10E/V
τ T

Fourier coefficient = 2 π T / (n2 π2 τ) sin (2 n πτ /T)

T = 20 E / V; τ = E / 2 V; T / τ = 40
Period = 2π = ωT=ω20E/V
ω = π V /10 E
f = V / 20 E
If V = 10 in/s and E = 0.05", f = 10 Hz

If 5th harmonic must be adhered to, bandwidth needed = 50Hz

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Trapezoidal Wave Harmonics

Image removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 9-7 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Conclusions

• Gross motions can be (must be) done by large

arms that necessarily will move slowly
• No robot arm with practical reach can make fine
motion error removal adjustments at 50 Hz
• Fine motions can be fast if they are done by small
arms, and must be fast to absorb typical errors at
economical speeds
• Big tasks with big parts will take a long time

compared to small tasks with small parts

• What we see: small parts cycle times are ~5s while

big parts cycle times are ~ 60s.
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Essentials of Part Mating Theory for

Fine Motions

• Quasi-static assumption
• Geometry of pegs and holes
• Applied forces
• Normal reaction forces and friction reaction forces

• Entry geometry limits

• Wedging conditions
• Jamming conditions
• Alternate strategies for accomplishing fine motion

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 The Basic Idea

• In gross motions, it pays to pre-plan to prevent

errors
• In fine motion, it does not pay to try to prevent
errors
• So the principle is to anticipate errors and figure
out how to make assembly happen anyway
• This requires us to understand three factors:
– Geometry
– Compliance
– Friction
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Geometry of Peg-Hole Mates
10 l/ D
=
c/
θ C = 0.1
TYPICAL MACHINED
PARTS C = 0.01
1
l /d = c /θ ll /D

2 C
C = 0.001

√
θ m = 2c

=
m
θ
0.1

C
CH
C = 0.0001
PRECISION

EA
PARTS

R
FO
m
Image removed for copyright reasons.

θ
0.01
Source:

Figure 10-15 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. 0.001 0.01

0.1 1.0
Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. θ RADIANS

New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Dimensioning Practice

Image removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 10-16 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Geometry Definitions

Insertion Direction
θo

r c = (D-d)/D
d

α εo

R W

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11
 Insertion History

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12
 Insertion History

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 Insertion History

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14
 Insertion History

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15
 Insertion History

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 Insertion History

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 Insertion History

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 Insertion History

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000

 Life Cycle of a Part Mate

Image removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 10-12 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Model of a Compliant Support

Images removed for copyright reasons. All support is assumed

Source:
Figure 10-10 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E.
concentrated at one point
Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture, and consists of one
and Role in Product Development.
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826. lateral stiffness and one
angular stiffness

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 How Compliance Center Reacts to Force

Images removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 10-11 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

Force away from

C. C. causes rotation Force on C. C. causes only translation
and translation
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Forces and Moments - Two Point

Contact Case

Images removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 10-18 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

All applied and reaction

forces are expressed
in coordinates at peg’s tip
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Forces Applied During Two-point Contact
K K
x θ

When Lg >> 0 K K
When Lg ~ 0
x θ
Lg

K
x
K
θ
Big

K K
x θ Small
Big
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000

 Making Lg Small is Good

• How to do it?
• Active Robot Force Feedback

– Costly

– Slow

• Some way that acts by itself

• It was invented almost 30 years ago
• Called Remote Center Compliance
• Reduces assembly force
• Avoids one of two main failure modes

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Insertion Force History

CHAMFER CROSSING

INSERTION FORCE Fz, NEWTONS

TWO-POINT
CONTACT

ONE-POINT
CONTACT

l1 l2 l*
INSERTION DEPTH l, mm
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Assembly Failure Modes

• Both occur during two-point contact

• Wedging sets up compressive forces inside the

parts
• Jamming results from incorrect insertion forces

• We can derive the requirements to avoid both of

these failure modes

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Wedging: Compressive Friction Forces

Prevent Insertion Regardless of Insertion

Force

d d

φ φ
-1 -1
φ == t an µ φ == t an µ
f2
f2
l f f
1 l 1
l - dθ
θ θ
D D l - dθ

Wedging can happen if θ > c/µ Wedging can be avoided if µ is small

when two-point contact occurs enough or if two-point contact occurs
deep enough in the hole
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 What’s a Friction Cone?
F
Friction cone F
θ = tan-1 µ

FN F

FT
µFN

Sliding will occur if FT > µFN If F is inside the cone

FT /FN = tan θ then sliding will not happen
So, sliding will occur if tan θ > µ because FT < µFN
and F will lie on the boundary and F can be any value
of the cone
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Conditions for Avoiding Wedging

Lg
S = 2
L g + K / Kx
θ

Images removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 10-20 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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 Jamming: Insertion Force Directed the

Wrong Way - Can’t Overcome Friction

COMPONENT NORMAL TO PEG AXIS COMPONENT NORMAL TO PEG AXIS

COMPONENT
PARALLEL TO COMPONENT
PEG AXIS INSERTION INSERTION
PARALLEL TO FORCE
FORCE FRICTION PEG AXIS
CORRESP.
TO NORMAL
COMPONENT

REACTION
TO NORMAL
COMPONENT

Component of
Component of
Insertion force
Insertion force
Along insertion direction
Along insertion direction
Not big enough:
Is big enough:
Peg Is Jammed
Peg Goes In
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Conditions for Avoiding Jamming

Image removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 10-21 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Jamming Examples

COMPONENT NORMAL TO PEG AXIS COMPONENT NORMAL TO PEG AXIS

COMPONENT
PARALLEL TO COMPONENT
PEG AXIS INSERTION INSERTION
PARALLEL TO FORCE
FORCE FRICTION PEG AXIS
CORRESP.
TO NORMAL
COMPONENT

REACTION
M TO NORMAL
M
COMPONENT

Fx Fx
Fz Fz
Fx/Fz is big. Fx/Fz is small.
M/rFz is big. M/rFz is small.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Target Expands as Depth Increases

M
rF
z
This point moves l
As λ increases λ = 2r 2λ+1
µ

1/µ F
1 x
-1
−1/µ F
z
−λ

-( 2λ+1 ) This point moves

As λ increases

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Experimental Data

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Experimental Data -2

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000

 Test Your Understanding

• Why does insertion force rise and then fall during

two-point contact?

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Experimental Data - 3

When
WhenLLgg==00
there
thereisisbarely
barely
any
anyinsertion
insertionforce.
force.
All
Allthat’s
that’sleft
leftisis
chamfer
chamfercrossing
crossing
force.
force.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000

 Test Your Understanding Again

• Why does the insertion force not rise after

chamfer-crossing is finished?

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Review of Force Feedback Strategy

• Create a coordinate frame at the “working point”

of the part or tool
• Separate lateral and angular sensing and response
motions in that frame
• Devise a response strategy

• The Remote Center Compliance is a purely

passive implementation of one such strategy

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Simplified Explanation of the Remote

Center Compliance (RCC)

Images removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 9-8 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 RCC Response to External Loads

(d) RCC UNDER (e) RCC UNDER (f) LINKAGE

LATERAL LOAD ANGULAR LOAD RCC UNDER LATERAL
AND ANGULAR
DEFORMATION
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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 (d) RCC UNDER
LATERAL LOAD

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 (d) RCC UNDER
LATERAL LOAD

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 (e) RCC UNDER
ANGULAR LOAD

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 (e) RCC UNDER
ANGULAR LOAD

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 First RCC Experiment - 1
r = 3°
Angular Error

47
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 First RCC Experiment - 2

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Commercial Remote Center Compliances

Images removed for copyright reasons.

Source:

Figure 9-9 in [Whitney 2004] Whitney, D. E. Mechanical Assemblies: Their Design, Manufacture,

and Role in Product Development. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157826.

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000
 Assembly is a matter of geometry

Geometry contains errors

in parts
in equipment

Accept errors Seek perfection

Ignore errors
(Matt Mason Costs too much
approach) Detect errors indirectly Detect errors directly

by sensing collisions by sensing them

geometrically

Collisions Collisions But they are small

are bad contain info and usually obscured

Taxonomy
Collisions +
stiffness matrix
But: friction limits
the available information
= force signals in force data
of Fine
Small stiffness →
Large stiffness →

Motions
small signals and

oscillations and

position uncertainty

large signals but

possible instability

Active force feedback Passive accommodation (incl small stiffness)

Can be smart Will be stable

can be unstable

can be "strange" Engineered Accidental,

can be slow contextual

Will avoid jamming May not avoid jamming

taxonomy of fine motions With sensors → IRCC Without sensors → RCC

basically Lyapunov stable

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© Daniel E Whitney 2000