Industrial multi-arm handling system for automated manufacture of composite broadgoods

Presents the design and implementation of an industrial four-arm robotic device for the gripping, handling and manipulation of flexible sheet material. The system has been developed as part of a collaborative research project in the automated manufacture of composite broadgoods from prepregs, i.e. structures made from layers of woven or unidirectional glass and carbon fibre pre-impregnated with a resin system. The paper considers the gripping, handling, peeling, lay-up and consolidation aspects in terms of the actual equipment implemented, giving reasons for the designs and results of the completed trials