US 2026/0249444 A1Published application

System and Method for Aligning A Materials Processing Implement

AssigneeVectis Automation, LLC

InventorsAndrew Akey, Joshua Pawley, Douglas Rhoda, Marcus Yakawich, Zachary Bennett, Elliot McCormick, Jacob Bell

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Abstract

A highly mobile readily re-deployable collaborative robot fabrication system for the assembly, construction, fabrication, and/or the completion of weldments or performing cutting operations in fabrication shop or factory environments or on large structures in difficult to access or elevated locations, the fabrication system including a control system for implementing and executing a method for programming and aligning a welding or cutting implement of the readily re-deployable collaborative robot fabricating system with complex non-flat surfaces of raw work materials to produce precise structural components therewith.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A highly-mobile collaborative robot fabrication system adapted to perform processing operations on raw work material, structures, and assemblies having irregular surfaces, the irregular surfaces of the raw work material, structures and assemblies having complex interconnected shapes and/or curved surface geometries, the highly-mobile collaborative robot fabrication system comprising:

a mobile base or cart adapted to store fabrication system accessory equipment therein;
a gridded upper work surface or table operatively connected to the mobile base or cart;
a collaborative robot system including a collaborative robot or cobot, the cobot having a robot arm operatively connected to a base secured to the gridded upper work surface or table, the robot arm including a plurality of arm segments sequentially pivotally and/or rotatably interconnected to one another and structured and arranged to have a reach length or distance;
a control system;
a robot controller;
a teach pendant operatively connected to and adapted to communicate with the control system and robot controller, the teach pendant further including an application programming interface (API) display;
a work material processing implement secured to a distal end of the robot arm, the implement being universally positionable and translatable along a preselected path in response to instructions from the control system, the robot controller, the teach pendant, and the application programming interface (API) display;
wherein the control system includes an operator controlled point by point programming feature whereby an operator selects and teaches way points along a processing path on any type of regular or irregular raw work material, structure or assembly surface to align and maintain the work material processing implement at a preselected angle between the implement and a regular or irregular work material surface.

5 more elements

A method for aligning and maintaining a material processing implement of a highly-mobile collaborative robot fabrication system at a preselected angle between the implement and an irregular surface of raw work material, a structure, or an assembly to be processed, the irregular raw work material, structure, or assembly surface having complex interconnected shapes and/or curved surface geometries, the highly-mobile collaborative robot fabrication system including a collaborative robot or cobot having a robot arm, a control system, a robot controller, a teach pendant operatively connected to and adapted to communicate with the control system and robot controller, the teach pendant further including an application programming interface (API) display, and a work material processing implement secured to a distal end of the robot arm, the implement being universally positionable and translatable along a preselected path in response to instructions from the control system, the robot controller, the teach pendant, and the application programming interface (API) display, the method comprising the steps of:

11A. either bringing the work material, structure, or assembly to be processed to the collaborative robot, or, alternatively, bringing the robot to the work material, structure, or assembly to be processed;
11B. selecting the feature node library from a library of saved nodes;
11C. selecting the type of feature to be taught from the selected feature node library;
11D. generating one or more teaching points defining the surface features of the work material, structure, or assembly to be taught;
11E. optionally flagging the surface features to be dynamically updated upon execution of the program;
11F. saving each of the one or more generated teaching points or surface features in the control system;
11G. selecting to use either a shape tool feature of the control system to teach the shape of the work material, structure, or assembly surface or, alternatively, to use a point by point programming technique wherein an operator teaches points along a processing path;
11J. mapping the shape using the cobot onto the work material, structure, or assembly surface;
11K. executing the path
11L. optionally flagging the surface features to be dynamically updated upon execution of the program;
11P. if the surface feature is flagged to dynamically update at step L, at step P, the cobot will auto-generate search points from the taught feature points;
11Q. tactile searching the auto-generated points either with force-based touch sensing, a laser spot sensor, or a camera;
11R. after the auto-generated points are searched, adjusting the surface feature for the program to be executed;
11S. executing the remaining program sequence, and
11T. ending the programmed process.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.