An optimal material removal strategy for automated repair of aircraft canopies

A description is given of the Robotic Canopy Polishing System (RCPS). The RCPS workcell contains three robotic arms that are used to assist an expert canopy polisher in inspecting and reworking plastic aircraft canopy transparencies. Particular attention is given to the methodology by which the RCPS determines where best to remove plastic from the canopy, given the raw data indicating flaw positions and severity. This process is driven by the following requirements: to completely remove the flaws; to minimize the number of grinding patterns laid on the canopies; and to minimize the distortion by overlapping grinding patterns. The features of the template-mismatch technique used are described