COBOT-ASSISTED TEST SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOTIVE SEATS
Case Study
THE CHALLENGE
Car seats are truly complex systems: depending on the vehicle, safety features such as airbags, seat occupancy recognition functions, heating or adjustable lumbar support are included.
All these functions must be checked at the end of the production process.
THE CUSTOMER
Lear Corporation is a leading supplier of automotive seating and electrical distribution systems, supplying most major car makers in the world
Industry: Automotive
Location: Coventry, UK
THE PROCESS
Sorion have been working with Lear for over 20 years, building and installing test systems for their different manufacturing plants worldwide. These tests concern all electrical and pneumatic functions of the seat before it is delivered to the car manufacturer’s assembly line.
Before, many of these tests were handled manually. This manual work involves sources of error and represents a high cost factor.
For this reason, Lear have tasked Sorion with the automation of tests below with the help of collaborative robots:
- Belt buckle insertion / removal
- Functional testing of the seat movements for non-memory seats
- Actuation of the car seat’s buttons and switches applying consistent force
- Lumbar and bolster testing by an integrated 3D camera solution
The Sorion team have integrated 8 Universal Robots to automate these tasks. The 6-axis articulated cobot arm is capable of reaching all the switches and buttons and executes all motions with the same measure of force.
RESULTS
The test equipment helps Lear ensure that only functioning seats will leave their plant.
- High-precision seat tests to increase passenger safety and reduce risks of product recalls
- Optimised process to ensure the shortest cycle time
- Full traceability of each seat
- Employees are freed up from manual input tasks
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