Application of Coverage Path Planning Algorithm for Milling Operations

Abstract

In this paper, we present an algorithm for automatic tool path generation for milling operations, where, the ‘cutter’ needs to pass through all the region that is required to be removed, without any gaps. We demonstrate the possibility of using mobile robot coverage path planning (CPP) algorithms for such applications. In the place of the robot footprint size that is used in a mobile robot CPP algorithm, here we use the size (diameter) of the tool as basis for the tool path generation. Here, we use a spanning tree-based competitive and truly complete robot coverage path planning algorithm, which is based on the approximate cellular decomposition. The proposed algorithm is first tested in V-Rep simulation environment with an arbitrary work piece and then real-time experiments were carried out on a CNC machine to demonstrate the proposed algorithm.