Sensor-guided fettling with robots

Automation of fettling requires in most cases the compensation of tolerances. Tolerances of castings, which are too large to be compensated by passive compliance, must be compensated by means of sensory acquisition of deviations and adaptive control. A prototype robotic fettling cell using different sensor systems for this purpose is achieved at the IPK. In this prototype installation tolerances of the parts are measured before the cutting process, deviations of the burr positions and dimension are thus determined. According to the difference between the programmed and the real geometry the cutting trajectory is adapted. In addition to that signales from motor current sensors are used for feed speed control during the cutting process.