Machining robot for foamed polystyrene materials using fuzzy feed rate controller

Abstract

Generally, cast metal is produced by using a sand mould. A foamed polystyrene mould is used as not only the master mould for making the corresponding sand mould but also the lost–foam pattern for full mould casting, i.e., lost–foam casting. Recently, the development of a flexible machining robot for foamed polystyrene materials is expected in the cast metal industries because of the high cost and inefficiency of conventional large sized CNC machine tools. In this paper, a machining robot based on an industrial robot is developed for foamed polystyrene materials by applying the already developed robotic CAM system. A compact and lightweight high performance tool is also considered and attached to the arm tip. The feed rate of an end mill is skilfully regulated by a fuzzy reasoning method. The design of the machining robot using the robotic CAM system and fuzzy feed rate controller is presented to efficiently produce foamed polystyrene moulds.