Kinematic analysis and optimization of robotic milling

Robotic milling is proposed to be one of the alternatives to respond the demand for flexible and cost-effective manufacturing systems. Serial arm robots offering 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) motion capability which are utilized for robotic 5-axis milling purposes, exhibits several issues such as low accuracy, low structural rigidity and kinematic singularities etc. In 5-axis milling, the tool axis selection and workpiece positioning are still a challenge, where only geometrical issues are considered at the computer-aided-manufacturing (CAM) packages. The inverse kinematic solution of the robot i.e. positions and motion of the axes, strictly depends on the workpiece location with respect to the robot base. Therefore, workpiece placement is crucial for improved robotic milling applications. In this thesis, an approach is proposed to select the tool axis for robotic milling along an already generated 5-axis milling tool path, where the robot kinematics are considered to eliminate or decrease excessive axis rotations. The proposed approach is demonstrated through simulations and benefits are discussed. Also, the effect of workpiece positioning in robotic milling is investigated considering the robot kinematics. The investigation criterion is selected as the movement of the robot axes. It is aimed to minimize the total movement of either all axes or selected the axis responsible of the most accuracy errors. Kinematic simulations are performed on a representative milling tool path and results are discusse

Dynamic behavior analysis for a six axis industrial machining robot

The six axis robots are widely used in automotive industry for their good repeatability (as defined in the ISO92983) (painting, welding, mastic deposition, handling etc.). In the aerospace industry, robot starts to be used for complex applications such as drilling, riveting, fiber placement, NDT, etc. Given the positioning performance of serial robots, precision applications require usually external measurement device with complexes calibration procedure in order to reach the precision needed. New applications in the machining field of composite material (aerospace, naval, or wind turbine for example) intend to use off line programming of serial robot without the use of calibration or external measurement device. For those applications, the position, orientation and path trajectory precision of the tool center point of the robot are needed to generate the machining operation. This article presents the different conditions that currently limit the development of robots in robotic machining applications. We analyze the dynamical behavior of a robot KUKA KR240-2 (located at the University of Bordeaux 1) equipped with a HSM Spindle (42000 rpm, 18kW). This analysis is done in three stages. The first step is determining the self-excited frequencies of the robot structure for three different configurations of work. The second phase aims to analyze the dynamical vibration of the structure as the spindle is activated without cutting. The third stage consists of vibration analysis during a milling operation

Planning of remote laser welding processes

The paper discusses the technical background of the remote laser welding (RLW) technology, its novel opportunities and implications for planning processes. Our ultimate goal is to develop a complete off-line programming toolbox for RLW which can provide an automated method for computing close-to-optimal robot programs. We suggest a workflow for the complete planning process, and propose new models and algorithms for solving the sequencing of welding tasks in conjunction with path planning, as well as for generating the inverse kinematics of the robot. The paper summarizes results of first computational experiments in an automotive case study using an industrial robot. The proposed method leads to a substantial reduction in the cycle time of the welding operation compared to an earlier approach

Recent research on flexible fixtures for manufacturing processes

Fixtures, are used to fixate, position and support workpieces, and form a crucial tool in manufacturing. Their performance influences the manufacturing (and assembly) process of a product. Furthermore, fixturing can form a significant portion of the needed investment and total process planning time for the manufacturing system. Many fixturing concepts, as contribution to increase the flexibility of the manufacturing system, are reported in the literature. The flexible fixturing designs can be classified into the following seven categories: modular fixtures, flexible pallet systems, sensor-based fixture design, phase-change based concepts, chuck-based concepts, pin-type array fixtures and automatically reconfigurable fixtures. It is observed that the more intelligent and automated fixturing systems are designed with the demands for automation in certain industries in mind. Furthermore, different fixturing solutions suit the engineering demands for different manufacturing areas, this means that for the foreseeable future all technologies will remain current. From the self-reconfigurable fixturing techniques a new fixturing capability is emerging: in process reconfigurability for the optimal placement of clamps and supports during the whole process time. These several concepts together with some recent patents are studied here. The paper concludes with some prospective research directions in the field of flexible fixturing

Surface Location Error in Robotic Milling: Modeling and Experiments

Robotic milling offers new opportunities for discrete part manufacturing as an alternative to milling using large conventional machine tools. The advantage of industrial robots is their large work volume, configurability, and comparatively low cost. However, robots are significantly less stiff than conventional machine tools, which can lead to poor surface finish, low machining accuracy, and low material removal rates. The purpose of this research is to predict the geometric errors, or surface location errors, that occur in a robotic mulling tool path, validate these predictions with machining tests, and compensate these errors by tool path modification. Compared with conventional machine tools, robots possess low stiffness, low frequency vibration modes and the presence of these modes causes surface location errors that are nearly independent of spindle speed in the range typically used for machining. Additionally, the robot often exhibits errors relative to the commanded tool path. By developing an understanding of both the dynamics of the robot and its tool path accuracy, predictions were made of the surface location error for a machined part and a compensation algorithm was developed. The accuracy of the predictions and compensation algorithm were verified with a series of experiments. Through this research it was determined that robotic milling is prone to large surface location errors, but it is possible to reduce these through offline compensation

Optimal Robot Placement for Tasks Execution

AbstractAutomotive assembly cells are cluttered environments, including robots, workpieces, and fixtures. Due to high volumes and several product variants assembled in the same cell, robot placement is crucial to increase flexibility and throughput. In this paper, we propose a novel method to optimize the base position of an industrial robot with the objective to reach all predefined tasks and minimize cycle time: robot inverse kinematics and collision avoidance are integrated together with a derivative-free optimization algorithm. This approach is successfully used to find feasible solutions on industrial test cases, showing up to 20% cycle time improvement

TOWARDS DIGITAL TWIN-DRIVEN PERFORMANCE EVALUATION METHODOLOGY OF FMS

The paper presents a method of automated modelling and performance evaluation of concurrent production flows carried out in Flexible Manufacturing Systems. The method allows for quick assessment of various variants of such systems, considering their structure and the organization of production flow of possible ways of their implementation. Its essence is the conditions imposed on the designed model, limiting the space of possible variants of the production flow only to deadlock-free variants. The practical usefulness of the model implemented in the proposed method illustrates the example, which describes the simultaneous assessment of alternative variants of the flexible machining module's structure and the planned multi-assortment production. The ability of the method to focus on feasible solutions offers attractive perspectives for guiding the Digital Twin-like scenario in situations caused by the need to change the production flow

Cutting Forces Assessment in CNC Machining Processes: A Critical Review

Machining processes remain an unavoidable technique in the production of high-precision parts. Tool behavior is of the utmost importance in machining productivity and costs. Tool performance can be assessed by the roughness left on the machined surfaces, as well as of the forces developed during the process. There are various techniques to determine these cutting forces, such as cutting force prediction or measurement, using dynamometers and other sensor systems. This technique has often been used by numerous researchers in this area. This paper aims to give a review of the different techniques and devices for measuring the forces developed for machining processes, allowing a quick perception of the advantages and limitations of each technique, through the literature research carried out, using recently published worksThe present work was done and funded under the scope of the project ON-SURF (ANI | P2020 | POCI-01-0247-FEDER-024521, co-funded by Portugal 2020 and FEDER, through COMPETE 2020-Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation. F.J.G. Silva also thanks INEGI-Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industria, due to its support.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio