Open PC robot controller proves a major benefit in aerospace application

Citation

(2002), "Open PC robot controller proves a major benefit in aerospace application", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.04929caf.004

Open PC robot controller proves a major benefit in aerospace application

Open PC robot controller proves a major benefit in aerospace application

Keywords: Robots, Control, Aerospace

Robotic Workspace Technologies, Inc. (RWT™), a Fort Myers, Florida-based leading developer of software for manufacturing and production automation, today announced it has successfully installed its open architecture PC controller in a demanding aerospace application. The Universal Robot Controller™ (URC) (Plate’4) and RobotScript^®, the universal programming language was used to replace the OEM Acramatic controller on a Cincinnati Milacron Robot for a demanding application in the production of fighter aircraft wings. This was the user's second URC installation during 2001.

Plate 4 RWT's Universal Robot Controller

Each wing requires the drilling of 1,500 holes with an accuracy of better than one thousandth (0.001) of an inch. By applying the URC as a "plug and play" upgrade to the robot arm it provided for the use of a sophisticated sensor to detect the exact position of the wing skin and automatically adjust the robot program to ensure correct drilling of the holes. "This is an example of a robot sensor providing a self teaching method that corrects for programming and part positioning inconsistencies" stated Walter Weisel, chief executive officer of RWT.

The force sensor mounts at the tooling end of the robot arm and is interfaced with the Windows^®-based RobotScript software. Then the force sensor locates the programmed points at the part and corrects each individual axis of the robot arm by interacting with the sensor tool. The software program developed for this application simultaneously corrects the previously taught programmed points and repositions the arm in real-time to achieve optimal positioning of the robot arm. The RobotScript software redirects the robot arm to all the programmed positions and re-teaches each of the points in the program's database to within 0.001".

Replacement of the OEM's Acramatic controller plus commissioning of the new system, verification of the RobotScript software program and restart of production was achieved in less than two weeks. "The results have been outstanding", stated Mr Weisel. "The open architecture PC controller and RobotScript, the Microsoft-based software language, enabled the customer to achieve significant cost savings by retaining the existing robot and peripheral equipment and by significantly reducing programming time."

For more information on RWT products, please visit www.rwt.com