A HYBRID MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING METHOD FOR ROBOT SELECTION IN FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

Abstract

Advancement of the manufacturing system is governed by robots which improve the product quality and decrease market availability period. Different robots have been used for the pick and drop the operation of components in flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Each robot have their advantages and disadvantages therefore, selection of the most suitable robot is significantly important. The selection of robots based on various criteria is a multi-decision making problem (MCDM). In this study seven robots (R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7) are ranked using the proposed approach on the basis of five criteria viz. load capacity (LC), memory capacity (MC), manipulator reach (MR), maximum tip speed (MTS), and repeatability (RE) by employing hybrid Criteria Importance Through Inter criteria Correlation (CRITIC) and Multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) methods. Weights of criteria were obtained using correlation coefficient and standard deviation method whereas, the ranking of alternative was done using hybrid CRITIC and MABAC method. As a result of this study, robot R3 acquired the first rank whereas, R1 occupied the last rank which showed that R3 is the most suitable robot for the pick and place operation in FMS. Besides, Ranking comparison was also done with other MCDM methods.