Using Industrial Robots to Complete Accurate Manufacturing Applications

Industrial robots have come a long way from the simple pick-and-place operations on production lines and they are now being introduced into an increasing number of applications. Their versatility, large working volume, robustness, and high repeatability, along with their low relative cost makes them well suited to the repetitive and destructive environments of production facilities.Industrial robot technology has evolved significantly with new methodologies as well as new capabilities. Robots were traditionally programmed by teaching the robot every point required for a process. With modern software programming tools, the path generation can be completed offline, away from the shop floor. Full virtual simulation allows any issues to be picked up before the process is run on the real cell. This has resulted in significantly reduced programming times and therefore an increase in the complexity of the tasks that can be achieved while removing the programming task from the critical path of a new robot install. However, the software resources available only solve half the issue. Industrial robot hardware has inherent errors that limit the applications they can complete. These include inaccurate methods for identifying coordinate systems and work offsets, error stacking from the robot joints, response to applied forces and axis reversals. This talk aims to look at the software and hardware solutions that can reduce or completely remove these sources of error for applications such as milling, polishing, and non-contact metrology.