A method of measuring grinding points for a self-teaching grinding robot

摘要

It is a very time-consuming task to teach a grinding robot the contour of a workpiece accurately. Therefore, we have proposed a self-teaching grinding robot. This robot system measures three moments which are produced by the grinding force at the wrist of a manipulator, calculates the grinding points on a cylindrical grinding wheel, and recognizes the contour of the workpiece. In order to develop this technique practically, we have studied the determination of grinding points on grinding wheels of various shapes. The results of the analysis and experiments indicate the following: (1) If the shape of the grinding wheel is known and is invariant without wearing away, the grinding points can be calculated from only three components of the moment produced by the grinding force. (2) The calculation is, however, very difficult when the radius of the grinding wheel is not a linear function of the distance along the rotational axis of the wheel. Therefore, one component of the thrust has to be detected to simplify the calculation. (3) Even if the shape of the grinding wheel is not known or varies with abrasion, the grinding points can still be calculated by measuring three components of the thrust in addition to the three components of the moment.