Development of a graphical user interface for an automated surface mount circuit board rework cell

As the piece cost of completed circuit boards increases and production quantities decrease, reworking of defective boards has become an important part of the production process. The lead-pitch of surface mount components has also been decreasing, which has required increased training and skill level of the rework operators. Fully-automated rework provides a solution to these problems. In order to simplify the control of automated rework of surface mount circuit boards from an operator's viewpoint, an interface was developed at Rensselaer for an automated rework cell that uses the Apple Macintosh Graphical Interface. The interface reduces operator skill and training requirements for the operation of the automated cell. The paper includes a description of the fully-automated rework cell created at Rensselaer and describes the user interface development and its final structure.