Robot Surface Printing Path Correction for Distortion-Free Images
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital printing methods fail to efficiently adapt images to actual surface profiles that deviate from candidate profiles, leading to distorted prints due to the time-consuming process of regenerating images based on actual profiles.
Innovation Solution
A method that modifies candidate images to create modified designs by generating new paths based on actual profiles, using industrial robots and tools like digital printheads, to compensate for deviations between candidate and actual profiles, allowing efficient adaptation without regenerating images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If digital printing is controlled based on an assumption that the candidate profile and the actual profile are identical, then the printing process is simple and fast, but the image will be distorted when printed on the actual profile
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary scanning of the actual surface profile before printing and pre-calculates the modified path and modified design in advance. This allows the printing process to proceed at full speed without real-time calculations, while still achieving accurate image placement by compensating for profile deviations beforehand.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from the scanned actual profile to automatically adjust the printing path and design. The scanning device provides information about actual surface deviations, which are then used to modify the candidate path and candidate design into their corrected versions, ensuring accurate image placement without manual intervention.
2Manufacturing precision
If the image is regenerated based on the actual profile to adapt to profile deviations, then the image accuracy is improved, but the process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of completely regenerating the image based on the actual profile, the system creates a modified version of the candidate design by applying transformations (scaling, skewing, or stretching) to compensate for detected profile deviations. This copying approach with adjustments is much faster than full regeneration while maintaining image accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs all necessary calculations to adapt the image to the actual profile before the printing process begins. By pre-calculating the modified design and modified path based on scanned profile data, the system eliminates time-consuming operations during the actual printing phase.
3Productivity
If the printhead velocity is controlled to determine printing frequency, then the printing process is efficient, but the image will be distorted when the actual profile deviates from the candidate profile
Solution Approach 1:
The system addresses the one-dimensional velocity control problem by introducing spatial transformations in multiple dimensions. The modified path accounts for surface curvature and deviations by adjusting the printhead trajectory in three-dimensional space, while the modified design applies geometric transformations to compensate for profile variations, ensuring print quality without sacrificing efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of creating a modified design on a surface, the method including providing a tool, and an industrial robot configured to perform relative movements; providing a digital model of the surface, the digital model including a candidate profile of the surface; providing a candidate path for the relative movements based on the candidate profile; providing a candidate design to be created on the surface based on the candidate path; determining an actual profile of the surface; providing a modified path for the relative movements based on the actual profile; modifying the candidate design to provide the modified design to be created on the surface based on a deviation between the candidate path and the modified path; and controlling the industrial robot and the tool to create the modified design on the surface using the modified path for the relative movements.