Reconfigurable assembly work station

An autonomous workstation configurable to assemble components into an assembled product, the workstation comprising:

• a multi-faced superstructure including a horizontally-arranged frame section supported on a plurality of posts, the posts forming a plurality of vertical faces, each face arranged between adjacent pairs of the posts, the faces including first, second and third faces and a power distribution and position reference face;
• a work table fixedly coupled to the power distribution and position reference face;
• a plurality of conveyor tables including a first conveyor table fixedly coupled to the work table through the first face and a second conveyor table fixedly coupled to the work table through the second face;
• a vision system monitoring the work table and monitoring each of the conveyor tables;
• a controllable robotic arm suspended from the horizontally-arranged frame section and having a range of motion that enables an attached end-effector to access the conveyor tables and the work table;
• and
• a programmable controller configured to monitor signal inputs from the vision system, control the robotic arm to pick a component from one of the conveyor tables, execute an assembly task with the component and transport an assembled product onto one of the conveyor tables in either a first workstation configuration or a second workstation configuration.

An assembly system, comprising:

• a plurality of interchangeable autonomous workstations, each workstation including:
• a multi-faced superstructure including a horizontally-arranged frame section supported on a plurality of posts, the posts forming a plurality of vertical faces, each face arranged between adjacent pairs of the posts, the faces including first, second and third faces and a power distribution and position reference face;
• a work table fixedly coupled to the power distribution and position reference face;
• a plurality of conveyor tables including a first conveyor table fixedly coupled to the work table through the first face and a second conveyor table fixedly coupled to the work table through the second face;
• a vision system monitoring the work table and monitoring each of the conveyor tables;
• a controllable robotic arm suspended from the horizontally-arranged frame section and having a range of motion that enables an attached end-effector to access the conveyor tables and the work table;
• and
• a programmable controller configured to monitor signal inputs from the vision system, control the robotic arm to pick a component from one of the conveyor tables, execute an assembly task with the component and transport an assembled product onto one of the conveyor tables in either a first workstation configuration or a second workstation configuration;
• wherein a first of the interchangeable workstations executes a first assembly task with the component to generate a first assembled product;
• and
• wherein a second of the interchangeable workstations executes a second assembly task employing the first assembled product to generate a final assembled product.