A Calibration Method for the Integrated Design of Finishing Robotic Workcells in the Aerospace Industry

Industrial robotics provides high flexibility and reconfigurability, cost effectiveness and user friendly programming for many applications but still lacks in accuracy. An effective workcell calibration reduces the errors in robotic manufacturing and contributes to extend the use of industrial robots to perform high quality finishing of complex parts in the aerospace industry. A novel workcell calibration method is embedded in an integrated design framework for an in-depth exploitation of CAD-based simulation and offline programming. The method is composed of two steps: a first offline calibration of the workpiece-independent elements in the workcell layout and a final automated online calibration of workpiece-dependent elements. The method is finally applied to a robotic workcell for finishing aluminum housings of helicopter gear transmissions, characterized by complex and non-repetitive shapes, and by severe dimensional and geometrical accuracy demands. Experimental results demonstrate enhanced performances of the robotic workcell and improved final quality of the housings

An Offline Programming Method for the Robotic Deburring of Aerospace Components

Deburring of aerospace components is a complex task in case of large single pieces designed and optimized to deliver many mechanical functions. A constant high quality requires accurate 3D surface contouring operations with engineered tool compliance and cutting power. Moreover, aeronautic cast part production is characterized by small lot sizes with high variability of geometries and defects. Despite robots are conceived to provide the necessary flexibility, reconfigurability and efficiency, most robotic workcells are very limited by too long programming and setup times, especially at changeover. The paper reports a design method dealing with the integrated development of process and production system, and analyzes and compares a CAD-based and a digitizer based offline programming strategy. The deburring of gear transmission housings for aerospace applications serves as a severe test field. The strategies are compared by the involved costs and times, learning easiness, production downtimes and machining accuracy. The results show how the reconfigurability of the system together with the exploitation of offline programming tools improves the robotic deburring process