Is it possible to polish to a mirror finish using a cobot?

Good polishing experts are hard to find and that is not about to change. The work requires knowledge and experience, is time-consuming, expensive, monotonous and stressful, and takes place in an unhealthy environment. The need for experts is especially acute in the mould construction business.

Sirris partnered with the German Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT) to find out whether semi-automation using cobots could take (some of) the burden off polishing experts. The Fraunhofer IPT is renowned for its research into the automation of polishing processes, mainly investigating automation using industrial robots and actively controlled adaptive tool holders.

Sirris set up a cobot polishing cell to research whether a cobot can be usefully deployed as a polishing tool for experts to use.