Polishing/Grinding Robot

Overview

A polishing or grinding robot is a six-axis articulated arm that holds an abrasive spindle against a part and works the surface to a target finish: deburring castings, blending weld seams, sanding composites, or buffing metal to a mirror. The hard problem is not where the tool is but how hard it presses. Too little force and material is left behind; too much and the part is gouged or the abrasive loads up and burns. The robot solves this by separating position from force, the six Servo Joint axes place and orient the tool along a path, while a Force-Control Wrist measures and regulates the contact force independently. That lets one program run across parts that vary in size and casting flash without reteaching every point.

How it works

The arm is a chain of cast Arm Link links rising from a Base & Turntable, each axis driven by an identical servo joint. Every joint pairs an AC AC Servo Motor with a low-backlash Gear Reducer, an absolute encoder for feedback, a Servo Drive amplifier, and a brake that locks the axis when power is removed. At the tool end, a six-axis Force/Torque Sensor resolves the contact load into three forces and three torques; the controller reads it and drives a compliance actuator so the Polishing Spindle tracks the surface at a constant programmed force even as the part contour changes.

The spindle is a brushless Spindle Motor turning a wheel, belt, or polishing mop through an interchangeable tool holder, and a Dust Extraction Port shroud captures the dust and swarf the process throws off so it does not foul the robot or the shop. The Controller Cabinet cabinet holds the motion compute, one servo drive per axis, the force loop, and field I/O; it coordinates path, spindle speed, and force into a single motion. Programs are taught and force targets tuned from the Teach Pendant. Power, feedback, spindle leads, and extraction all run along the arm through the Dress-Out Cabling energy chain.