Accurately predicting the tool influence function to achieve high-precision magnetorheological finishing using...

Area of Science:

• Optical Engineering
• Robotics
• Manufacturing Technology

Background:

• Industrial robots offer flexibility and cost-effectiveness for optical manufacturing.
• Low trajectory accuracy in robots limits precision in magnetorheological finishing (MRF).
• Existing compensation methods struggle with high-precision, large-scale robot errors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel method for high-precision optical component manufacturing using industrial robots and MRF.
• To address the limitations of robot trajectory accuracy in precision optical finishing.
• To enable accurate polishing without the need for complex trajectory error compensation.

Main Methods:

• Developed a 3D tool influence function (TIF) model using inverse distance interpolation.
• Predicted TIFs for various polishing gap conditions.
• Implemented a robot-MRF polishing strategy incorporating variable TIFs and surface shape accuracy.

Main Results:

• Achieved high-precision polishing of a ϕ420 mm fused silica mirror.
• Reduced surface accuracy from 0.11 λ RMS to 0.013 λ RMS.
• Validated the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in achieving precision without trajectory error compensation.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D TIF model and variable TIF strategy enable high-precision robot-MRF polishing.
• This approach overcomes limitations of robot trajectory accuracy for optical manufacturing.
• The findings support broader industrial robot applications in intelligent optical manufacturing.