CAD-Based Off-Line Programming Applied to a Cleaning and Deburring Workstation

This paper describes a research project for CAD-based off-line robot programming. The research focuses on the specific problem of programming robots in the Cleaning and Deburring Workstation in the Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF) at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). A baseline capability is first established with a commercially available off-line programming software package. From this experience, the package will be modified to incorporate geometric reasoning, an object oriented database, and an NBS hierarchical control system. Eventually, the off-line programming techniques will produce executable programs which will be run by the NBS hierarchical control system.