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

Industrial robots with six degrees-of-freedom have significant potential for use in optical manufacturing owing to their flexibility, low cost, and high space utilisation. However, the low trajectory accuracy of robots affects the manufacturing accuracy of optical components when combined with magnetorheological finishing (MRF). Moreover, general robot trajectory-error compensation methods cannot compensate for the running errors of large robots with high precision. To address this problem, a three-dimensional (3D) tool influence function (TIF) model based on inverse distance interpolation is developed in this study to accurately predict the TIF of different polishing gaps. A high-precision robot-MRF polishing strategy based on variable TIFs and surface shape accuracy of polished optics is proposed to achieve high-precision manufacturing without compensating for trajectory errors. Subsequently, the accuracy of a ϕ420 mm fused silica mirror is experimentally verified to be from 0.11 λ RMS to 0.013 λ RMS. This validates that the robot-MRF can achieve high-precision polishing without compensating for trajectory errors. Furthermore, the proposed model will promote the applications of industrial robots in optical manufacturing and will serve as a reference in the field of intelligent optical manufacturing.