Real-time monitoring and control system of an industrial robot with 6 degrees of freedom for grinding and polishing of aspherical mirror

Abstract

Aspherical mirrors have higher performance and lighter weight than spherical mirrors. However, it is not easy to process, measure, and evaluate their shapes. In particular, large aperture aspherical mirrors used in satellites require high precision and take a long time to process. The conventional process is machined using a computer numerical control with a gantry structure. However, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to process complex shapes due to lack of degrees of freedom. In order to overcome these problems, we developed a shape processing system using an industrial robot with 6 degrees of freedom. The system consists of toolpath generation program, real-time robot monitoring, and control program. We have verified the performance of the developed system through simulation software provided by the robot manufacturer as well as actual robot operation.