Optimized Hotwire Cutting Robotic System for Expandable Polystyrene Foam

This paper presents the ideation and implementation of a 2-axes robotic system for hotwire cutting of polystyrene plates. In particular, since the quality of the cutting process is strongly affected by, among others, the interaction force between the hotwire and the workpiece, an accurate force control is required. The force control module, which is referred to as

delayed reference control

(DRC) belongs to the category of non-time based controllers. It is recalled that in a time-based control, the desired input reference is described as a function of time only, which is referred to as reference time:

x

d

(

t

). What is relevant is that such a reference can never be modified by any external event. Conversely, according to the DRC theory, the desired input reference

x

d

is a function of the time and a variable, which plays the role of a time delay:

x

d

(

t−T

). The time delay

T

is properly calculated on-line according to the measured force signal in such a way to improve the quality cutting process during the interaction phase. DRC theory and its practical implementation on a 2-axes robot are presented as well as an accurate description of the cutting process. In fact, experimental results validate theoretical predictions.