COMET robot machining consortium meets at Fraunhofer

The COMET consortium during 5th GA meeting in Fraunhofer IPA, one of the leading research institutes in the field of robotics and automation, in Stuttgart, Germany

The COMET project consortium held its 5th General Assembly meeting at the Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart, Germany, from 24th to 25th November. Coordinated by Delcam, the COMET project is now in its second year, focusing on applying the previous year’s research and development on real-world machining tests, bringing manufacturing solutions that are cost-effective, flexible and reliable.

Prior to the meeting, the COMET consortium held its Exploitation Strategy Seminar with guidance from the European Commission representative, Mr.Mauro Caocci. The outcome of the COMET project should be able to be successfully applied in European manufacturing industry when the project ends in February 2013.

The experiments performed in the seven robot cells established by the COMET project have produced valuable data for machining with robots and highlighted the issues that may occur. The development of the COMET tracking system and high dynamic compensation mechanism, and the integration of these technologies with the programming and simulation environment is now under way.

During the meeting, the consortium visited Fraunhofer IPA, a leading research institute in the field of robotics and automation. The institute is focused on robot deployment and automated production processes, as well as the development of robot systems and their key components. In partnership with the Lund University, IPA is the main developer of the high dynamic compensation mechanism and its control systems.

Dr. Ir. Jan Ramboer, Research Programme Officer, who represented the European Commission at the meeting, remarked: "For a successful European Project you need good communication, flexibility and most importantly a passion for the work. All of these elements are clearly present in the COMET Project consortium and I look forward to the final results of the project. ”

In 2012, the COMET project will continue to integrate each part of the COMET platform and concentrate on demonstrating the advantages of robot machining in a variety of applications such as automotive parts, mould and die components and aerospace parts.

For more information about the COMET project visit www.comet-project.eu.

Acknowledgements:

This project is co-funded by the European Commission as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) adopted in 2008. The EERP proposes the launch of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in three sectors, one of them being Factories of the Future. Factories of the Future is a 1.2 billion Euro program in which the European Commission and industry are collaborating in research to support the development and innovation of new enabling technologies for the EU manufacturing sector. For further information please visit:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/industrial_technologies/factories-of-the-future_en.html