This paper deals with a robotic fettling system which aims at taking the place of one of the most hazardous manual jobs in industry. The system has attained a 95% success rate in fettling castings and has already been put into production. This paper describes the engineering procedures of how to implement the system. Emphasis is placed on optimizing the cost performance of the system by analyzing and comparing different system components, such as tools, micro-processors, and program languages, which are readily available in the marketplace.
This paper also discusses the peripheral equipment which enable the fettling system to adapt its functions to the variety of shapes and to the position of flaws on the work-pieces.
