Flexible Tool Manipulation for High-Accuracy Removal Processing of Unknown Shape Convex parts

The occurrence of convex part on metal surface of the product during casting is unpreventable. The purpose of this research is to propose a robot manipulation algorithm with a feedback control system for automatic removal of convex parts, which consists of a tool tip reaction force and a position feedback control, instead of manual removal as done by craftsmen. Removal experiments are carried out to identify the appropriate value of each of the parameters used in the proposed feedback control system. It is shown that better removal time and high-quality surface can be achieved by applying the proposed feedback control in the removal process of convex parts. Besides, sufficient machining performance obtained from the removal processing experiment of convex part of different shape proves that the proposed method is effective on convex parts of unknown shape. In addition, the generality of this system is proven by applying desired reaction force as reference input to the proposed feedback controller s not only to S50C but also to several metal materials such as SUS303, ANP79 and C2801P.