An Early Stage Planning Method for Robot Systems

Industrial robots in combination with their peripherals represent flexible, versatile and cost efficient automation systems. Especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) often need additional support regarding the technical and economical evaluation of such systems. Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge regarding automatable processes and corresponding peripheral devices. For this purpose, a method is developed that allows SMEs to assess automatable processes, their investments and benefits in the early planning phase. The paper presents a methodology for the planning of robot systems in an early stage and details of one step.