Covering objects with masking tapes is a common process for surface protection in processes like spray painting, plasma spraying, shot peening, etc. Manual taping is tedious and takes a lot of effort of the workers. T...Covering objects with masking tapes is a common process for surface protection in processes like spray painting, plasma spraying, shot peening, etc. Manual taping is tedious and takes a lot of effort of the workers. The taping process is a special process which requires correct surface covering strategy and proper attachment of the masking tape for an efficient surface protection. We have introduced an automatic robot taping system consist- ing of a robot manipulator, a rotating platform, a 3D scanner and specially designed taping end-effectors. This paper mainly talks about the surface covering strategies for different classes of geometries. The methods and corre- sponding taping tools are introduced for taping of following classes of surfaces： Cylindrical/extended sur- faces, freeform surfaces with no grooves, surfaces with grooves, and rotational symmetrical surfaces. A collision avoidance algorithm is introduced for the robot taping manipulation. With further improvements on segmenting surfaces of taping parts and tape cutting mechanisms, such taping solution with the taping tool and the taping methodology can be combined as a very useful and practical taping package to assist humans in this tedious and time costly work.展开更多
文摘Covering objects with masking tapes is a common process for surface protection in processes like spray painting, plasma spraying, shot peening, etc. Manual taping is tedious and takes a lot of effort of the workers. The taping process is a special process which requires correct surface covering strategy and proper attachment of the masking tape for an efficient surface protection. We have introduced an automatic robot taping system consist- ing of a robot manipulator, a rotating platform, a 3D scanner and specially designed taping end-effectors. This paper mainly talks about the surface covering strategies for different classes of geometries. The methods and corre- sponding taping tools are introduced for taping of following classes of surfaces： Cylindrical/extended sur- faces, freeform surfaces with no grooves, surfaces with grooves, and rotational symmetrical surfaces. A collision avoidance algorithm is introduced for the robot taping manipulation. With further improvements on segmenting surfaces of taping parts and tape cutting mechanisms, such taping solution with the taping tool and the taping methodology can be combined as a very useful and practical taping package to assist humans in this tedious and time costly work.
