COMPUTER-AIDED-DESIGN-BASED INTERACTIVE OFF-LINE PROGRAMMING OF SPRAY-GLAZING ROBOTS

Off-line programming of robots is an important step in the effective i ntegration of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufactu ring. This paper identifies the steps involved in the development of s uch an off-line programming system for robotic spray glazing. Various robot path specification methods and path-planning strategies are desc ribed and evaluated. The basic methodology is to use the CAD represent ation of the component to determine a robot path that ensures good gla ze coverage. A CAD model of a sample robot work cell is created to sim ulate the spray-glazing operation, and to test the performance of the path specification methods. Two path planning strategies are evaluated for this work cell, for two sample surfaces.