FlexPaint

The objective of the project FlexPaint is to provide a system for automatic spray painting. The goal is to paint all arriving parts and to reach a batch size of one. The final solution will make it possible to paint any arriving part in the paint cell without the need for models or other data. The final product will provide a fully self-contained solution to the spray painting problem. The project is funded by the European commission with 1.1 MEuro and will last until July 2002 (partner).

The technical problems are solved by the academic partners of this project. They proposed and already tested in prototypes the following approach:

• Sensing the geometry of the parts with one or more range sensors
• Extracting the geometry for painting from the sensor data
• Using the geometry to determine a painting trajectory
• Generating the robot program for the trajectories with a planner that also avoids collisions

All these steps will be executed automatically such that interference of operators is not needed and all arriving parts can be painted. The steps will be executed in real-time. The cycle time is selected such that the sensing cell can be placed directly in front of the painting.