ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the cost and hazard decision tree (C&HDT) is integrated for the first time, by adopting the fault tree analysis (FTA) and the reliability block diagram (RBD) from the previous chapter, in an approach to evaluate the reliability of a complex system called industrial robot. Some advantages of such a methodology include detailing of complex robot system components by FTA, providing a block diagram design for series/parallel presentation, using hazard function as a significant index in reliability and maintenance studies, and employing an efficient computational method of decision tree for overall evaluation. The proposed process can be easily implemented using the usual data collected by the maintenance department without any excessive and time-consuming efforts. Here, the hazard decision tree (HDT) is configured to compute the hazard of each component of and the whole robot system. Through this research, a promising technical approach is established, allowing decision makers to identify the critical components of industrial robots along with their crucial hazard phases at the design stage.
