Predictive Methodology for Dimensional Path Precision in Robotic Machining Operations

Industrial robotics seems to be a technology suitable for flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing systems, and robots are commonly used to perform several industrial tasks, such as material handling, welding, assembly, spray painting, machine tending, and milling. For machining operations in particular, the use of industrial robots becomes a cost-saving and flexible alternative compared to conventional CNC machines, which have restricted working areas that limit the produced shapes. Limited pose and path accuracy restrict the use of industrial robots in machining applications. Machining process forces may cause significant tool center point deviations and chatter due to the heavy mechanical demands. This paper proposes a methodology to predict the path deviations due to the machining process, thus allowing to achieve reasonable precision values for the workpiece. An experimental setup was developed to analyze the real-path deviations for different configurations of robot axes. The analysis intends to characterize the mechanical behavior of the machining robot cell and to identify the appropriate cutting conditions.