EWASS Empowering Human Workers for Assembly of Wire Harnesses
Research Project, 2022 – 2025

Purpose and goal
The project´s goal is to assist the industry in ensuring a sustainable work-life by empowering human workers during assembly of wire harnesses. The objective is to improve productivity, quality, and ergonomics of assembly installation of wire harnesses and high voltage cables using collaborative robots, thereby boosting the manufacturing of electrified vehicles. This will be achieved not only by proposing novel HRC technology, but also by providing new simulation tools that augment manufacturing engineers’ abilities to improve work station designs.

Expected results and effects
Objectives include: (WP2) a wire harness software demonstrator; (WP3) a physical Human robot Collaboration (HRC) system including methods and guidelines for collaborative wire harness assembly; (WP4) increased safety and smoothness of HRC by anticipating the actions of the human workers; and (WP5) physical and virtual demonstrator at Scania and virtual demonstrator at ASSAR to develop, test, and show increased smoothness of HRC, and physical and virtual demonstrator at SII-Lab, pilot plants at AB Volvo and Volvo Cars.

Planned approach and implementation
Industrial partners will be responsible for coordination and demonstrators. FCC will cooperate with HiS on ergonomics and with CEVT and Scania to ensure industrial requirements. Chalmers and HiS will collaborate to create an HRC system. AB Volvo, VCC and Wiretronic will provide wire harnesses and expert knowledge. The project results are evaluated at Scania for safety aspects, at ASSAR for smoothness of HRC, and at Chalmers for the collaborative wire harness assembly. AB Volvo and VCC will be used to bring the results for testing in an as realistic environment as possible.

Participants

Björn Johansson (contact)

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Production Systems

Omkar Salunkhe

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Production Systems

Hao Wang

Chalmers, Industrial and Materials Science, Production Systems

Collaborations

Fraunhofer-Chalmers Centre

Göteborg, Sweden

Scania CV AB

Södertälje, Sweden

University of Skövde

Skövde, Sweden

Volvo Cars

Göteborg, Sweden

Volvo Group

Gothenburg, Sweden

Wiretronic AB

Vänersborg, Sweden

Funding

VINNOVA

Project ID: 2022-01279
Funding Chalmers participation during 2022–2025

Related Areas of Advance and Infrastructure

Sustainable development

Driving Forces

Production

Areas of Advance

Publications

More information

Latest update

2022-12-22