JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 32

MANUFACTURING robotics

A path to the future: now is a time for robots

Blanca iTuRRalDe, Project Manager,
Juan Solano, Sales Director,
MTorres

O

ver the past few years, robots have
been mainly used in aircraft assembly phases where accuracy was not
the main driver, such as NDI machines
(non-destructive inspection) or pick &
place operations. However, the improved
accuracy and rigidity of today's robots,
together with the higher level of competition, the importance of overall costs for
any new investment and the short lead
times requested by projects are some of
the main reasons why robots are becoming more relevant and will play an important role in tomorrow's aerospace industry.
For the past years, MTorres has been
working to improve its robots' performance in order to comply with the market's current requirements for some specific applications.

MTorres has been developing robotic solutions for quite some
time to meet the growing needs of the aerospace sector. The
aerospace industry is increasingly demanding the integration of
robots in its manufacturing processes, for both fabrication and
assembly systems.

racy using robots, but also to deal with 2
robots incorporating ATL end effectors
and a rotary table, totalling 23 controlled
axes working in a synchronized mode.
Since then, the integration of robots on
automated fibre placement (AFP) machines and drilling heads has become a
reality.
An important step was to integrate robots
under a CNC envelope. The robot controller was replaced by a specific CNC
system, which transforms the positions
and converts the anthropomorphic robot into a Cartesian machine. This makes
it easier for operators who are already
familiar with how to operate a standard
CNC system to govern and interact with
the machine, which operates in a similar
way as other MTorres products such as
the Torresdrill, Torreslayup, Torresfiberlayup, etc.

First robotic cell
The first robotic cell for carbon fibre lamination entered in production in 2012. It
consisted of two robots with an automated tape laying (ATL) head each, both laying up at the same time for an aerospace
application. The biggest challenge of this
project was not only to layup with accu-

32

Fig. 1: Two robots with
ATL heads and a rotary
table working in a
synchronized mode

jec composites magazine / No107 August - September 2016

Another major advantage of integrating a standard CNC system is that it
can use MTorres' existing software and
know-how for parts programming in applications, drilling and lamination. The
company's well proven, powerful programming software tools, such as Torlay
and Torfiber, are fully compatible with
this new development. Additionally, the
CNC system offers a high degree of flexibility regardless of the application and
process in which it has to operate.

Robot accuracy
The key point was to improve the positioning accuracy requested by the aerospace sector. A commercially available
robot brand offering many guarantees in
terms of repeatability did not have the
high positioning accuracy needed.
Two main solutions were integrated into
the robot. First, additional systems were



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016

Cover
Edito
OPINION
internet of things
Contents
NEWS
In Brief
Agenda
JEC Conferences 2017
EXPERIENCE COMPOSITES
Innovations
Interview
CCEV
Symposium
BUSINESS
Outlook
Automotive
MANUFACTURING
Injection
Hybrid Structures
Robotics
Total production optimization
Company visit
FEATURED TRANSPORTATION : What share for composites in transportation?
Biocomposites
Railway
Design
Tanks
Truck
Public transportation
SOLUTIONS
Construction
Parasports
Sailing
Watersports
In the world
TECHNOLOGY
Reaction kinetics
Index
Software
Advertisers
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Back Cover
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Cover
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 2
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Edito
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - NEWS
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 5
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Contents
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 7
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - In Brief
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 9
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Agenda
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - JEC Conferences 2017
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Innovations
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 13
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 14
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Interview
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 16
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - CCEV
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Symposium
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 19
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 20
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Outlook
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 22
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 23
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Automotive
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 25
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Injection
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 27
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Hybrid Structures
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 29
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 30
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 31
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Robotics
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 33
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Total production optimization
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 35
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Company visit
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 37
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Biocomposites
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 39
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 40
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Railway
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 42
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Design
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 44
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 45
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 46
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 47
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Truck
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 49
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Public transportation
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 51
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 52
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Construction
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 54
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Parasports
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Sailing
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Watersports
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Software
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Reaction kinetics
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 60
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 61
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 62
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 63
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 64
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 65
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - Advertisers
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #107 - August/September 2016 - 67
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