Automation of the sanding process for wood products

这是女王大学（Brian Surgenor教授）和Stinson**工作室（安大略省塔姆沃思）之间的新合作提案。目标是自动化磨砂木碗的过程。**斯廷森工作室是一家可以追溯到1982年的木工公司。他们的产品是用树干和树瘤做成的木碗。生产过程中的一个步骤是用手持式轨道磨砂机打磨碗的内表面。这是一个对身体要求很高的重复运动过程。每个工作人员按**需要连续工作不超过2小时。多年来，有两名员工患上了肘部和手腕肌腱炎，不得不重新分配工作。目前的工作人员佩戴手臂和手腕支架，以尽量减少肌腱炎的发作。自动化这一步骤将提供一个更安全、更健康的工作场所。生产率也会提高，可能高达5倍。本课题的具体目的是为六轴串行机器人设计一种砂碗控制器，代替人工操作。打磨木材的过程类似于金属的抛光，都是为了消除表面的划痕。目前有一些昂贵的基于机器人的商用系统可用于铝的抛光，这是航空航天工业中常见的工艺。因此，有关于**轮廓跟随和金属抛光的文献。然而，与铝不同的是，木材是不均匀的，更重要的是，每个碗的几何形状都是独一无二的。在关于**的文献中，只有一个关于轮廓跟随和木材打磨的例子。假设可以使用力**和位置反馈的混合控制器：a)生成刀具路径（以触摸传感器为末端执行器）；b)以生成的刀具路径为导向（以轨道磨砂机为末端执行器）对内碗表面进行磨砂。由于工作环境的性质，采用**视觉引导机器人的方法是不可行的。

This is a proposal for a new collaboration between Queen's University (Prof. Brian Surgenor) and Stinson**Studios (Tamworth, Ontario). The objective is to automate the process of sanding a wooden bowl.**Stinson Studios is a woodworking business dating back to 1982. Their product is wooden bowls cut from tree**trunks and burls. One step in the production process involves the sanding the inner surface of a bowl with a**hand-held orbital sander. This is a physically demanding repetitive motion process. Each staff member is by**necessity limited to working for no more than 2 hours continuously. Over the years, two staff have developed**tendonitis in the elbow and the wrist, and have had to be reassigned. Current staff wear arm and wrist braces to**minimize the onset of tendonitis. Automating this step would provide for a safer and healthier workplace.**Production rates would also increase, possibly as high as a factor of five.**The specific aim of this proposal is to design a controller for a 6-axis serial robot to sand a bowl, and take the**place of the human operator. The process of sanding wood is similar to the polishing of metal, both set out to**eliminate scratches from the surface. There are expensive robot-based commercial systems available for the**polishing of aluminum, a common process in the aerospace industry. Thus, there is literature on the subject of**contour following and the polishing of metal. However, unlike aluminum, wood is a non-homogeneous and**more importantly, the geometry of each bowl is unique. Only one example could be found in the literature on**the subject of contour following and the sanding of wood. It is hypothesized that a hybrid controller with force**and position feedback could be used to: a) generate a tool path (with touch sensor as end effector) and b) sand**the inner bowl surface with generated tool path as guidance (with orbital sander as end effector). Taking a**vision guided robot approach is not feasible, due to the nature of the working environment.