Kinematic modeling of 5-axis horizontal milling machine emulated from vertical articulated robot

Abstract

Industrial robots are a proper alternative to 5-axis machine tools for multi-axis milling of parts from softer materials and lower tolerances. For these reasons, researchers develop software solutions to bring programming of machining robots closer to programming of machine tools. The paper presents the results of kinematic modeling of vertical articulated industrial robots to emulate 5-axis horizontal machine tools. The solution to the inverse kinematics problem was the basis for the analysis of the machining robot workspace. Starting from equations of direct and inverse kinematics the control and programming system in G-code was developed, based on EMC2 software system. Developed control and programming system enables use of the available CAD/CAM systems for programming 5-axis machine tools, i.e. it is directly applicable by programmers and operators experienced in CNC technologies and G-code programming. Verification of kinematic modeling and developed control and programming system was carried out by machining experiments on an available domestic 6-axis robot LOLA 50.

Keywords

• robotic machining
• machining tools
• kinematic modeling
• control system
• programming
• g-code