Furniture Polishing Robot Using a Trajectory Generator Based on Cutter Location Data

In this article, a furniture polishing robot, which uses a trajectory generator based on cutter location data, is proposed. The position and orientation of the polishing tool is suitably controlled by referring the output from the trajectory generator. The trajectory generator yields a zigzag path, whirl path or their combinational path according to the shape of each workpiece. Using the trajectory generator, the present polishing robot doesn't need the conventional complicated teaching process. The contact force acting between the polishing tool and the workpiece is controlled through a desired impedance model to follow in Cartesian space. The effectiveness and promise of the proposed polishing robot are demonstrated through some experiments concerning polishing tasks using an industrial robot JS-10 with a PC based controller.