Grinding sculptured surfaces with industrial robots

Following basic technological tests on conventional grinding systems, a belt grinder suitable for robots has been developed, and a prototype has been integrated into a grinding cell. Its machine functions are coupled to the robot controller so that, unlike normal systems, the grinding cell permits problem-specific programming. The overall grinding cell can be efficiently programmed, i.e., without taking up the machine's valuable production time, as early as the planning stage with the aid of a simulation and programming system. To optimize the grinding program a programming system has been developed and connected to a low-cost CAD system. The benefits of the low-cost programming system are summarized. >