Surface processing by robot

"Manual fine machining is relevant in many branches of industry, both for new production and for the refurbishment or repair of old or damaged components. Correct execution often requires years of experience. In addition to the physical strain, sparks or the inhalation of fine dust can be harmful to health. For these reasons, it is difficult to recruit young talent," says project manager Prof. Dr. Nicolas Pyschny from the Institute of General Mechanical Engineering at TH Köln. Robot-based fine machining is therefore a way to refine or prepare components in a shorter time with consistently high quality and without health risks.

Demand for robot-based surface processing

In industrial production, there is a particular need for automation solutions that can also process components in small quantities quickly and to a high quality. Jürgen Meyer from Joke Technology explains: "We have been planning to use a robot cell for some time. We have already made progress in hardware development. However, controlling the robot is very complex, as there is not enough suitable software on the market for our special processes."

This is where the "iPRO" research project (intelligent programming environment for robot-based surface processing) comes in, developing a graphical programming environment with an intuitive user interface to simplify the post-processing steps. For this purpose, the hand movements of the workers during polishing are recorded by optical sensors, and the forces applied when pressing the tools and the number of revolutions are also recorded by sensors. "We use this data to program the robot's mode of operation on our test stand. In coordination with the specialists, we can also determine when a part of the surface has been sufficiently treated and the next processing step should begin," says Pyschny. Once all the process steps have been recorded, they are translated into a programming code via a software interface, which automatically calculates and executes the robot's movements.

Knowledge database for the future

The project manager sees the creation of a knowledge database as a possible follow-up project. This could be used to store the expertise of skilled workers. This information could also be used to train an artificial intelligence that is able to plan and control machining processes independently.

The iPRO project is being carried out under the direction of Prof. Dr. Nicolas Pyschny from the Institute of General Mechanical Engineering at TH Köln. The project partner is Joke Technology, which is contributing its expertise in surface processing and automation. The company is also responsible for the further development of the robot cell and the integration of the software. The Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is funding the project with around 400,000 euros over the planned duration of two and a half years.