Offline Programming of Robots in Car Seat Production

Abstract: Company Purtech in Dals-Ed manufactures molded polyurethane (PUR). Examples of products that include polyurethane are car seats. Robots are used to fill the molds with PUR and to apply the release agent (wax) in the empty molds. Turning from online programming into a graphical offline programming of release agent spraying robots is going to simplify the process by: Applying less of release agent to avoid polluting environment, to produce an easier removal of moulds, for the sake of homogeneous moulds and for economical saving in the cost of release agent Adaption of spraying paths to variation in production speed. Programming of complex spraying trajectories to deal with sharp geometrical subsurface Decreasing onsite programming time (when program a new workpiece or modify an old one); so that robots would be free for production. While turning into offline programming brought the challenges of: Impact of variation in the production speed Lack of 3D models of workcell’s equipments Robot joint configuration when paths and robtargets are in move. Physical Joint limits, Singularities & Reach limits Collisions within the cell space. At the end, the following objectives are successfully met: Adaption of spraying programs to variation in production speed by developing and embedding a method in those programs. Graphical offline generation of spraying trajectories and optimization of those trajectories to the Purtech condition of spraying allowed time for each carrier. Simulation of release agent spraying process; and producing of a well structured RAPID program that reflect the simulated process.