Coordination control of an active pneumatic deburring tool

An efficient robotic deburring method was developed based on a new active pneumatic tool. The developed method considers the interaction among the tool, the manipulator and the workpiece and couples the tool dynamics and a control design that explicitly considers deburring process information. The new active pneumatic tool was developed based on a single pneumatic actuator with a passive chamber to provide compliance and reduce the chatter caused by air compressibility. A coordination control method was developed for efficient control of the system, which adopts two-level hierarchical control structure based on a coordination scheme. Robust feedback linearization was utilized to minimize the undesirable effect of external disturbances such as static and Coulomb friction and nonlinear compliance of the pneumatic cylinder stemming from the compressibility of air. The developed coordination control method demonstrated its efficacy in terms of deburring accuracy and speed.