Engineering news
The “world’s first” reconfigurable carbon-composite robotic machine tool will save manufacturers from buying costly, purpose-built systems, according to the University of Shieffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).
The AMRC has collaborated with aerospace giant Airbus and systems manufacturer Exechon, which specialises in Parallel Kinematic Robots (PKRs), to develop a lightweight and modular robotic machine tool. It has been made and tested by the AMRC.
Most industrial robots use serial linkage technology, where each additional axis is mounted on the previous one, with an end effector, which holds the tools the robot uses, on the final axis. However, PKRs have the end effector mounted between two or more independently movable arms, allowing movements in the X, Y and Z directions to be made using three or more parallel axes.
As a result, PKRs are said to be able to move as flexibly in the same volume as robots with a single arm but with greater accuracy and stiffness. This makes them well-suited to machining operations.
Exechon has developed a new generation of Parallel Kinematic Robots that the company said offer even greater “rigidity and usability”.
Ben Morgan, head of the AMRC’s Integrated Manufacturing Group, said: “Making the structure modular and from composite means the robot can be dismantled and moved easily by two people.
“Using composite also means that changes in temperature within a factory will have less of an effect on the robot’s accuracy than if it was entirely made of metal.
“Potential applications include drilling and milling holes in wings faster and without having to make major investment in purpose-built machine tools, which cannot easily be moved.”
The AMRC is currently running trials of the finished robotic machine tool.