The disclosure concerns a coating device and a corresponding coating process for coating components, in particular motor vehicle body components, with a coating agent (e.g. paint), with a coating robot with a first printhead which is mounted on the coating robot. The disclosure provides that the first printhead is exchangeably mounted on the coating robot and can be exchanged for a second printhead during a color change. Another variant of the disclosure, on the other hand, provides for a second printhead to be mounted on the coating robot in addition to the first printhead, the two printheads each applying a specific coating agent in order to enable a color change without changing the printhead.

The present invention refers to an automated painting system on oil ships, being executed by a mobile platform and an oscillating arm. The assembly only works due to the control of cables, winders and wheels. This approach is aimed at painting large vertical walls. The painting deck suspension uses four cables, each connected to a pivot on the mobile platform, and two fixed pivots plus four winders. The winders contain a servo motor in a synchronous serial network. The cables are made of reduced-weight polyethylene. Each cable is connected exclusively to one winder. Suspension is achieved with the aid of two adapted cranes and initialization through the addition of a giraffe-type crane.

A device for applying a layer of material within a thin-walled pressure vessel may include one or more maneuvering actuators configured to direct the device within the thin-walled pressure vessel, an applicator operatively coupled to the one or more maneuvering actuators, and a controller operatively coupled to the one or more maneuvering actuators and the applicator, the controller is configured to control the one or more maneuvering actuators and the applicator. The applicator may include an expander configured to apply pressure along a portion of an inner wall of the thin-walled pressure vessel, a receptacle configured to secure the material to the device and position the material along the inner wall of the thin-walled pressure vessel, and a bonder configured to bond the material along the inner wall of the thin-walled pressure vessel.

A robotic programming apparatus, while using a robot equipped with a spraying device to move the spraying device, for creating an operation program of an application operation for applying a sprayed material sprayed from a nozzle of a spraying device to a member, that includes an operation pattern storage section configured to store a plurality of types of operation patterns each indicating operation of the spraying device that are operation patterns each formed of a continuous trajectory including periodic iteration of a constant pattern, and a pitch interval determination section configured to determine, for one operation pattern of the plurality of types of operation patterns stored in the operation pattern storage section, a pitch interval of the periodic iteration of the constant pattern in the one operation pattern based on a spray parameter representing a spray characteristic of the sprayed material by the nozzle of the spraying device.

A method of determining a degree of clogging of discharge holes of an apparatus for applying a coating medium to an object, the method including conducting air through the discharge holes; determining an output air pressure between an air flow regulator of the apparatus and the discharge holes, the air flow regulator being arranged to regulate a flow of the air; and determining a degree of clogging of the discharge holes based on the output air pressure. An apparatus for applying a coating medium to an object, a calibration system including an apparatus and a blocking device, an industrial robot including an apparatus, and a method of determining clogging characteristics of an apparatus, are also provided.

An automatic application device includes: a robot arm; an application hand configured to apply, to a workpiece, a paint that is a liquid; a force sensor configured to detect a force and a moment acting on the application hand; and a control section configured to control the robot arm in accordance with a parameter calculated from an output signal from the force sensor.

A robot end effector (100) for dispensing an extrudable substance (102) comprises cartridge bays (122). Each one of the cartridge bays (122) is shaped to receive one of two-part cartridges (104). Each of the two-part cartridges (104) comprises a cartridge outlet (109). The robot end effector (100) also comprises a head assembly (150), comprising pairs of fittings (152). Each pair of the pairs of fittings (152) is configured to selectively supply compressed air from a pressure source (199) to contents of one of the two-part cartridges (104) when the two-part cartridges (104) are received by the cartridge bays (122) and the cartridge bays (122) are translated along a first axis (190) and along a second axis (192) so that the cartridge outlet (109) of the corresponding one of the two-part cartridges (104) is in fluidic communication with the mixer inlet (103).

An automated painting system that includes a robotic arm and a painting end effector coupled at a distal end of the robotic arm, with the painting end effector configured to apply paint to a target surface. The painting system can also include a computing device executing a computational planner that: generates instructions for driving the painting end effector and robotic arm to perform at least one painting task that includes applying paint, via the painting the end effector, to a plurality of drywall pieces, the generating based at least in part on obtained target surface data; and drives the end effector and robotic arm to perform the at least one painting task.

The present disclosure provides a flexible workpiece pedestal capable of tilting a workpiece support surface. The workpiece pedestal further includes a heater mounted on the workpiece support surface. The heater includes a plurality of heating sources such as heating coils. The plurality of heating sources in the heater allows heating the workpiece at different temperatures for different zones of the workpiece. For example, the workpiece can have a central zone heated by a first heating coil, a first outer ring zone that is outside of the central zone heated by a second heating coil, a second outer ring zone that is outside of the first outer ring zone heated by a third heating coil. By using the tunable heating feature and the tilting feature of the workpiece pedestal, the present disclosure can reduce or eliminate the shadowing effect problem of the related workpiece pedestal in the art.

The disclosure concerns a coating device and a corresponding coating process for coating components, in particular motor vehicle body components, with a coating agent (e.g. paint), with a coating robot with a first printhead which is mounted on the coating robot. The disclosure provides that the first printhead is exchangeably mounted on the coating robot and can be exchanged for a second printhead during a color change. Another variant of the disclosure, on the other hand, provides for a second printhead to be mounted on the coating robot in addition to the first printhead, the two printheads each applying a specific coating agent in order to enable a color change without changing the printhead.