| dc.description.abstract | This thesis provides several improvements to producing a uniform surface finish on free-form surfaces in a robotic sanding procedure. The three improvements which this thesis discusses involve surface reconstruction of the workpiece to be sanded, uniform trajectory planning, and modeling physical factors which may affect the material removal.
While surface reconstruction is an ongoing area of research, many studies do not consider whether the reconstructed surface is smooth enough for trajectory planning. In this thesis, we address this problem by developing a method for reconstructing a free-form surface which is sufficient for planning trajectories that can be used for surface finishing operations.
In regards to trajectory planning, this thesis presents an improvement on previous tool path planners with the objective of uniform coverage on free-form surfaces with the least amount of sanding overlap. Whereas previous works assume that the sanding pad remains in full contact with the surface, this assumption is not always valid when polishing surfaces with varying curvature. This thesis relaxes this assumption, allowing the contact area between the sanding pad and surface to change throughout the motion. This thesis presents numerical simulations as well as physical experiments, demonstrating that this trajectory planner is able to provide uniform coverage with changing contact area.
Finally, this thesis models external factors (e.g. sand paper grit) which may affect the amount of material removed from the surface. After conducting several empirical trials, a model is constructed which predicts the amount of material removed for a given set of parameters. | en |
