Incremental forming of sheet metal by two industrial robots

Abstract

This paper describes an innovative developed process of incremental sheet metal forming based on two industrial robots. Instead of using expensive dedicated dies simple and reusable tools were designed to form sheet metal into complicated geometrical shapes. These simple tools with flat or hemispherical head are mounted on the end effectors of the robots, while the forming tool on one side is driven by the robot to follow a prescribed path generated from the designed shape, the supporting tool on the other side moves along the path synchronously, by incremental steps, a sheet metal is drawn to its final shape between the forming tool and the supporting tool. As a result, various kinds of sheet metal parts have been formed using this method. The measured profile and strains from the forming process are presented and discussed.