Automated fiber placement is an application with great potential in aerospace manufacturing, with various groups exploring its application. This latest challenge between DLR and NRC apply dual robots through RoboDK.
Over the past few years, we have seen automated fiber placement recurring as an application, such as our previous success stories addressing the close tolerances of the process and collaborative robot placement.
This process of fiber placement involves using automation technology to create multi-layered composite products. A robot accurately places hundreds of fibers impregnated with synthetic resin into a pattern to build up multiple layers of coating.
This project combines the expertise and knowledge from three key collaborators — DLR, NRC, and RoboDK — to enhance production efficiency of this key process for the aerospace industry.
Introducing… the DLR-NRC-RoboDK Project
Like all good projects, success begins with the right partners.
Here are the three expert companies involved in this project:
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
A core player in the project is the German Aerospace Center (DLR). This leading research organization focuses on applying cutting-edge technology across aerospace, energy, transportation, and security sectors.
DLR has strong expertise and experience in robotics and automation, with projects applying this robotic technology across its focus industries.
National Research Council of Canada (NRC)
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) plays a key role in driving scientific discovery and technological development in Canada. This international mission for challenge with DLR highlights their commitment to forging international partnerships to meet industry demands.
Automation and manufacturing are core focus areas for the NRC, with previous announcements that manufacturing is “at the heart of the Canadian economy.”
RoboDK
The final key collaborator in this project is ourselves, RoboDK.
Here, RoboDK’s key contribution was through providing calibration tools to ensure that the dual-robot system could achieve high precision. This is crucial for the application of fiber placement, where the success of the placement depends on precise placement accuracy from the robots involved.
3 Common Challenges of Automated Fiber Placement
To create a successful robotic application, the team had to focus on overcoming common challenge areas for fiber placement.
Various challenges are typically associated with fiber placement, including complexity of process planning, the managing of intricate techniques, and difficulties in achieving seamless integration.
In this project, the collaborators highlighted the following 3 challenges:
- Need for Rigid Jigs — Automated fiber placement often relies on rigid jigs. While these are essential for maintaining dimensional accuracy with conventional automation, they can significantly restrict design flexibility.
- Need for Precise Molds — To ensure that manufactured components meet strict tolerances and quality standards, it’s usually necessary to make precise molds. However, this can increase both time and cost.
- Lack of Design Flexibility — Without robots, automated fiber placement can become a highly inflexible process. This can restrict the applicability of the process.
The team looked to overcome these challenges by using a dual-arm robotic system. This itself adds some extra challenges, as both robots need to be precisely synchronized. This is why they chose RoboDK with its industry-leading calibration process.
The Test Project: Aircraft Bulkhead Manufacturing
To validate the application of dual-robots to fiber placement, DLR and NRC chose a manufacturing test case for aerospace manufacturing.
The primary aim of this test project was to improve the production of aircraft bulkhead segments. This involves creating structural partitions within an aircraft that are crucial for maintaining rigidity and division within the cabin or fuselage. The manufacturing process requires precise engineering and design to optimize strength-to-weight ratios.
To achieve this, the team used their dual-robot system for fiber placement. They integrated a closed software loop to act as a bridge between the Computer Aided Design (CAD) and the robot itself.
As well as automated fiber placement, the dual-robot system was also programmed to complete a continuous welding process. By integrating an innovative anvil onto one robot, the team could achieve jig-less welding that supports high welding forces.
The System: Dual-Robot Continuous Ultrasonic Welding and Fiber Placement
The hardware and software components of the system combined to create this system.
These included:
- Dual KUKA robots acted as the main robotic hardware for the project.
- CAD software, where the fiber placement design was created.
- RoboDK for its calibration and dual-robot synchronization capability.
- A closed software loop developed in-house at DLR to combine elements of the system together.
Lars Brandt, DLR’s Project Lead and Composite Expert, explains the system:
“Together with the National Research Council of Canada, we developed an automated fiber placement and welding process with collaborating robots. An innovative method is used to improve the accuracy of the robot by measuring common positions in the process.”
With these components, the team could successfully use the same robotic system for automated fiber placement and continuous ultrasonic welding.
RoboDK’s Robot Calibration for Increased Accuracy
Calibration was a vital aspect of this project. To achieve this, the research team employed RoboDK’s highly popular calibration process.
Companies and robotics researchers from all over the world use RoboDK calibration to improve the accuracy and performance of their robots.
Our leading calibration process involves identifying the real geometric parameters in the robot’s kinematic structure and calibrating them with up to 30 parameters. It supports over 1000 robots and can achieve significant improvement in robot accuracy, typically 0.2 mm or even better.
By calibrating your robot with RoboDK — as the researchers did in this project — you can generate highly accurate robot programs automatically, improving accuracy and performance. For dual-robot applications, this accuracy can be vital.
If you would like to learn more about RoboDK calibration, check out our dedicated calibration page.
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