JPS6312746B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a polishing method, and more particularly to a polishing method that automatically performs polishing operations.

Generally, systems have been proposed that use work robots to automatically perform tasks such as polishing, welding, and painting. However, the work performed by work robots is limited to rough machining, and is not suitable for work that requires precision beyond a certain level. Particularly in the case of work such as polishing work, in which the state of the machined surface changes every moment, it is difficult to perform highly accurate polishing using a work robot. Furthermore, conventionally, it has been difficult to automatically perform a series of polishing operations starting from teaching polishing data regarding polishing positions, and it has been considered that manual intervention is unavoidable in some of the steps.

An object of the present invention is to provide a polishing method that can automatically perform a series of polishing operations.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a polishing method that allows the condition of a polished surface to be precisely measured in real time, and that also enables precision polishing.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a polishing method that can automatically extract positional data regarding the curved surface of a material to be polished.

According to the present invention, a polishing method for polishing a material to be polished having an arbitrary curved surface includes a data extraction step of detecting positional data regarding the curved surface by a tracing operation along the material to be polished; a polishing step of polishing a curved surface according to the data based on initial polishing parameters based on the position data obtained from the data extraction step; an inspection step of inspecting the state of the surface polished by the polishing step; an editing step of sequentially correcting the initial polishing parameters based on the obtained surface condition and editing them as teaching data; A polishing method characterized by polishing is obtained.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example of a polishing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in a plan view. This system includes a manipulator (robot main body) 11 on a base 10 that is movable left and right, up and down, and front and back in the figure, and a grinder 12 and a grindstone 13 are attached to the tip of the manipulator 11. Further, on the base 10, a manipulator 1
An inspector 15 that can move independently of the polished curved surface and inspect the surface condition in real time by contacting the polished curved surface is provided along with its detection section 16. Furthermore, a copying device 17 is attached to the lower part of the inspector 15 so as to be integrated with the inspector 15, and extracts positional data regarding the curved surface of a material to be polished (not shown) prior to polishing. This copying device 17 sequentially extracts position data regarding the curved surface by bringing a copying shaft installed at its tip (on the back side of 17 in the drawing) into contact with the material to be polished, and teaches the material to be polished. Can be done. Furthermore, this robot system has a work setter 20 that positions and fixes the mounted material to be polished.
It also has an automatic grindstone exchange device 21 that automatically exchanges the grindstone 13. Of these, work setter 2
0 can be rotated R in a plane, and can also be tilted S with respect to the paper surface. In this way, by moving the work setter 20, the operation of the manipulator 11 can be supplemented and the operation of the manipulator 11 itself can be simplified. The aforementioned manipulator 11, inspector 15, copying device 17, workpiece setter 20, and automatic grindstone changer 21 are connected to a control device 25 through a control line (not shown), and this control device 25 controls a series of Polishing work can be performed automatically. Here, to explain the control device 25 in more detail, this control device 25 includes a processing section that controls the manipulator 11, an inspector 15, and a copying device 1.
7, a central processing unit that controls the entire system including these processing units, and a storage unit that stores data necessary for polishing.

Hereinafter, with reference also to FIG. 2, the copying device 17
The teaching process of extracting position data using the following will be explained. In this step, first, the material to be polished is manually set on the work setter 20. In this state, the position and orientation of the workpiece setter 20 and the grinding wheel 13 are
The shape etc. of Next, work setter 20
The coordinates of a representative point such as the end of the upper material to be polished are determined, and the values are stored in the storage section of the control device 25 using a control panel (not shown) or the like. Subsequently, under the control of the control device 25, the copying axis of the copying device 17 is moved while being in contact with the material to be polished on the work setter 20, and position data regarding the curved surface of the material to be polished is precisely taught. In this case, since the profiling axis is biased by a spring, irregularities on the curved surface of the material to be polished appear as changes in the profiling axis, and by electrically converting these changes, position data can be obtained. Can teach. These positional data are edited in consideration of the relationship with the previously taught coordinates at the representative point and the polishing plan. Next, a test is performed by actually moving the manipulator 11 in accordance with the edited data to confirm whether polishing can be conveniently performed using the edited data. If there are any inconveniences, make appropriate corrections and retest. As a result of the test, if there are no problems, transfer the data to a cassette or the like and fix it. When the materials to be polished are of the same model, the teaching process described above only needs to be performed for the first material to be polished.
The data stored in the cassette or the like can be used repeatedly for subsequent materials to be polished.

The polishing operation performed after the teaching step will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. When the material to be polished is manually attached to a predetermined position on the work setter 20, the operator uses a push button on the control panel to instruct the start of the polishing operation. The above operations are performed manually by an operator, but the following operations are all performed automatically. When the start of polishing work is instructed, the workpiece setter 20 receives teaching data from the control device 25 and assumes the position and orientation instructed by the teaching data. Next, the manipulator 11 moves according to the taught position data and polishes the specified area of the material to be polished a predetermined number of times while controlling the pressing force of the grindstone. Thereafter, by sequentially repeating this operation, the material to be polished is polished. Furthermore, when it is necessary to replace the grindstone 13 due to wear of the grindstone 13 or due to a polishing plan, etc., the control device 25 reads out a grindstone replacement program and causes the automatic grindstone exchange device 21 and the manipulator 11 to cooperate. Then, the grindstone 13 is replaced with another grindstone prepared in the automatic grindstone exchange device 21. Once the partial polishing operation is complete, controller 25 reads a surface inspection routine and causes inspector 15 to inspect the surface. As described above, this inspector 15 is connected to the manipulator 1.
1 is controlled by a different processing unit. Therefore, the inspection process by the inspector 15 can be performed in parallel with the polishing work, or alternatively, it can be performed alternately with the polishing work. Control device 2
Based on the inspection results, step 5 instructs the part to be polished, changes the polishing parameters that determine how much polishing should be done, and instructs the completion of polishing. The manipulator 11 repeats the above-described series of operations until the polishing operation is completed, and when the polishing operation is completed, each device is set to its initial position. Thereafter, the operator removes the material to be polished from the work setter 20.
Incidentally, when the teaching data is stored in a cassette or the like, the daily work is only the work shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the present invention, during the polishing process, the condition of the processed surface of the material to be polished can be inspected by an inspector as appropriate, and the material can be polished until a predetermined processing accuracy is obtained. Therefore, it is possible to automate polishing work that requires processing precision, which was difficult in the past, and it is also possible to improve the finishing accuracy of machined surfaces, which was judged by human senses.
Inspection work can also be performed automatically. Furthermore, the surface profiling device integrated with the inspector can be used as a high-speed inspection device for polished surfaces that do not require much precision. In addition, this copying device can automate the teaching process, which requires the most labor.
Moreover, accurate teaching becomes possible. As mentioned above, since the present invention combines a copying device and an inspector, a series of polishing operations starting from the teaching process can be performed automatically and precisely, which saves labor in the polishing process and improves productivity. This is a major contribution to improvement. It goes without saying that the present invention is suitable for polishing a material to be polished having an arbitrary curved surface.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view for explaining a polishing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the teaching process in the system of FIG. 1, and FIG. This is a flowchart explaining the work. Explanation of symbols 10: Base, 11: Manipulator, 12: Grinder, 13: Grindstone, 15: Inspector, 16: Detection unit, 17: Copying device, 2
0: Work setter, 21: Automatic grinding wheel exchange device, 2
5: Control device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A polishing method for polishing a material to be polished having an arbitrary curved surface, comprising: a data extraction step of detecting position data regarding the curved surface by a tracing operation along the surface of the material to be polished; a polishing step of polishing a curved surface according to the position data based on initial polishing parameters based on the position data obtained from the data extraction step; an inspection step of inspecting the state of the surface polished by the polishing step; and the inspection step. and an editing step of sequentially correcting the initial polishing parameters based on the surface state obtained by and editing them as teaching data, and from the initial polishing parameters, the teaching data is automatically edited while processing the material to be polished. A polishing method characterized by polishing. 2. In the polishing method according to claim 1, in the editing step, after modifying the initial parameters, the polishing step and the inspection step are repeated based on the modified parameters to improve the surface quality. Sequentially correct the state to within a predetermined accuracy,
A polishing method characterized in that the teaching data is edited.