MechanismandMachineTheorywwelsevier/locate/mechmtAnautomatictoolchangerandintegratedsoftwareforaroboticdiepolishingstationabc*Beom-SahngRyuh,SangMinPark,GordonR.Pennock5aMechatronigsCemer,ChonbukNationalUniversity,Chonju561-756,RepublicofKoreaDJeonjuTechnicalCollege,Chonju561-756,RepublicofKoreacSchoolofMechanicalEngineering,PurdueUniversity,WestLafayette,IN47907-1288,USAAccepted27June2005Availableonline24August2005AbstractThispaperpresentsaroboticdiepolishingstationcontrolledbyaPCandarobotcontroller.Thestationconsistsofasix-degree-of-freedomindustrialrobotmanipulator,apneumaticgrindingtool,andgrindingabrasives.Thestationalsoineludesanautomatictoolchangerwhichisspecificallydesignedtoexchangethegrindingtoolsuchthattheoperationiscompletelyunmanned.Sincedieandmoldmanufacturingistypi-callylowvolumeproduction,itisnotpracticaltousearoboticautomationsystemandmanuallyprogramtheserialrobotwithateachpendant.Therefore,thispaperproposesaprocedurewherethepathdatafortherobotend-effectorisgeneratedautomaticallyfromtheNCdataofapreviousdieormoldmachiningprocess・APCautomaticallygeneratesaprogramforthedieormoldpolishingprocessandthisprogramisuploadedtotherobotcontroller.Theprogramnotonlyincludesthepathdata,butcangenerateseveralpolishingpatternsandwillcontroltheautomatictoolchanger.Toimprovethequalityofthefinish,thepostureanglebetweenthegrindingtoolandthesurfaceofthepartiscomputer-controlled・Also,tofurtherenhancetheperformaneeofthesystem;i.e.,toimprovethegrindingcontact,anelasticmaterialisinsertedbetweenthepolishingpadandtheholder.Availableonlineatwww^sciencedirectSCIENCE(^^DIRECT®MechanismandMachineTheory41(2006)415-432ELSEVIER2005ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+17654945728;fax:+17654940539・t-mailaddress:pennock@ecn.purdue.edu(G・R・Pennock)・0094-114X/$-seefrontmatter2005ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2005.06.004Keywords:Dieandmoldmanufacturing;Roboticdiepolishingstation;Automatictoolchanger;Polishingpatterns;Toolpostureangle;Elasticmaterialinsert1.IntroductionHighqualitydieandmoldproductionisbecomingincreasinglyimportantinmodernmasspro-ductionmanufacturingsystems[1].Afterthedieandmoldarecast,ormachined,apolishingpro-cessisessentialtoprovidethedie-moldsurfacewithahighqualityfinish.Thisprocess,however,isgenerallyverytimeconsumingand,therefore,shouldbeautomated.Therehasbeenalimitedamountofresearchonautomaticdiepolishingsystems,however,thelevelofresearchintermsofasmoothsurfacefinishandprecisionisfarfromsatisfactory.Theresearchtodatetypicallyem-ploysacommercialNCmachine,suchasamachiningcenterwithpolishingequipment[2,3],oradedicatedautomaticpolishingstation[4],oraroboticsystem[5-8].AnNCmachinewithapol-ishingattachmenthasanadvantage,inthatthesamemodelingandmachiningdataandfixturesareusedforthepolishingprocesswhichreducesthepreparationtime.However,acontrollerhasnotyetbeendevelopedforanNCmachinetocontrolboththemachiningcenterandthepolishingequipment.Thealternativeisdedicatedmachinerywhichmayhaveahigherworkingspeedbutisusuallylessflexibleforpolishingafreeformedsurface.Also,anoperatormustchangethetoolmanuallyanddevelopmentcostsareusuallyhigh.Alimitedamountofresearchhasbeenreportedonmetalmoldpolishingstationsusingrobotsystems[9]・However,inorderforarobotpolishingstationtobesuccessfulforacompletelyun-mannedoperationthendetailedimplementationsm...