PhD - Industrial Robotics for Advanced Machining

Industrial robots typically used in the automotive manufacturing sector are flexible assets that are used to automate many manufacturing processes. The use of robots for high value manufacturing applications is very cost effective and allows for a significant level of manufacturing control and repeatability. The use of industrial robots for machining applications is the next logical step for this technology. There is a need for low cost flexible machining assets, a need potentially addressed by industrial robots. Industrial robots have many pros / cons. Cons include positioning accuracy as well as stiffness. Stiffness is critical for machining applications, and typical aerospace component accuracy requirements demand higher performance from machining assets. Research is underway exploring how point to point moves made by a robot can be augmented and new robots that are potentially stiffer have been commercially released. No in-depth research has yet been conducted to assess the performance of these stiffer robots nor has any significant progress been made to address path following accuracy of robots. Augmenting point to point moves made by a robot can satisfy the needs of component hole drilling applications, however machining of high accuracy aerospace components requires more understanding of generic stiffness as well as augmentation of path following capabilities.
This PHD 'Advanced industrial robotics' will explore industrial robot dynamics and augmentation in an effort to derive new understanding which could evolve this technology into a viable manufacturing capability.