The developed integrated design approach is focused on solving three main issues:
1) definition of a common reference reconfigurable workcell structure;
2) definition of the end user working procedure for the introduction of new batches;
3) definition of part-dependent hardware apparatus and software code.
In the first phase, the functional structure of the workcell is defined and its general layout is roughly
modelled by 3D CAD tools.
In the second phase, the method requires the definition of the end-user procedure for robot programming and workcell reconfiguration for every new workpiece.
OLP software need to be adopted for evaluating robot reachability, detecting possible collisions and robot singularities. Moreover, cycle time estimation can be performed for cost calculation and process balancing.