Composite parts require cutting and drilling for assembly, but the dust these machining processes generate can be harmful to health, and existing methods—costly precision milling machines or manual work with more dust exposure—each have drawbacks. Spain's IDEKO research centre has developed a robotic machining solution, validated under the EU-funded Fibremach project, that combines precision with a lower-cost setup and a patented workhead that captures essentially all toxic dust particles at the source before they become airborne.
IDEKO's project manager noted the abrasive, conductive dust also damages machinery over time, making effective extraction important for equipment longevity as well as worker safety. Beyond dust control, IDEKO's research groups developed a camera-based vision system that corrects the robot's position in real time, improving accuracy roughly fourfold to within 0.1-0.2 millimeters, plus a vibration-monitoring system that automatically adjusts cutting speed to prevent damage from worn or poorly clamped tools. Process data is logged to the cloud, enabling analysis and future AI-driven optimization, and the architecture can scale to robots of different sizes.
The Fibremach project, completed in 2023 with EU Horizon 2020 funding and partners including ALDAKIN and AERNNOVA, won the top prize at CECIMO's first Machine Tools Innovation Award for its contribution to clean manufacturing technology.
Source: IDEKO
