A survey of telerobotic surface finishing

Abstract

This is a survey of research published on the subjects of telerobotics, haptic feedback, and mixed reality applied to surface nishing. The survey especially focuses on how visuo-haptic feedback can be used to improve a grinding process using a remote manipulator or robot. The bene ts of teleoperation and reasons for using haptic feedback are presented. The use of genetic algorithms for optimizing haptic sensing is brie y discussed. Ways of augmenting the operator's vision are described. Visual feedback can be used to nd defects and analyze the quality of the surface resulting from the surface nishing process. Visual cues can also be used to aid a human operator in manipulating a robot precisely and avoiding collisions.

Advanced teleoperation and control system for industrial robots based on augmented virtuality and haptic feedback

“…Surface treatment tasks used to repair defects are complex processes. For instance, in the automotive industry, surface finishing requires the dexterity of human hands and an intelligent use of feedback, which human experts obtain by touching and looking at the defects on the workpiece surface during the treatment [1]. In addition, the procedure required to repair a defect may also vary during its repair due to the condition of the surface (e.g., defects on a car body surface recently painted [2]).…”

“…Although some automatic systems can be found in the literature dealing with surface treatment tasks in the automotive industry [3,4], in most of the factories surface treatment tasks to repair car body surface defects are still carried out manually by experts. The main reason for this is the difficulty of automating this process if the finishing tool does not perform consistently or if there is no possibility to check the result [1]. However, manual operation gives rise to some issues, such as the expert criteria variability or the exclusion of workers with motor disabilities (e.g., those requiring wheelchairs).…”