Trajectory planning for automated robotic deburring on an unknown contour

For a conventionally automated robotic deburring system, a precise model of the mechanism and geometric knowledge of the environment is necessary. Also, the accuracy of the planned trajectory must be high. The trajectory which the robot travels is usually planned with a small depth inside from the constrained surface of the environment. For a workpiece with unknown contour, planning a trajectory may be unfeasible. Therefore, in this study, we present a novel trajectory planning, which allows for arbitrary planning of trajectory with a large distance inside the constrained surface. When the manipulator comes into contact with the environment, the robot controller compensates for the trajectory in real time by applying an innovative geometrical projection method. To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method, a Cartesian robot arm on which a grinding tool is rigidly mounted performs precision deburring and chamfering on unknown contours. Experimental results indicate that the manipulator is controlled in terms of automatically deburring the edges of parts with an unknown geometrical configuration. Moreover, its cutting force is maintained at a desired level.