An industrial robot-based sawing method for natural stone sculpture

Abstract In order to enhance the efficiency of stone sculpture machining while reducing natural stone waste and environmental pollution, a method for the efficient and green sawing of natural stone sculptures using industrial robots is proposed. The model contour is used as the directrix of the ruled surface to construct a ruled surface model that minimizes volume. The contour curve corresponding to this minimized-volume ruled surface model serves as the machining path for an integrated robotic diamond wire cutting system. A ruled surface model of Stanford Bunny was obtained by sawing a marble block using the robotic diamond wire cutting system. The experimental results show that the material removal rate of the robotic diamond wire cutting is 1.37 times that of saw blade cutting and 2.30 times that of grinding. The volume of stone powder generated during the processing was 0.16×10⁷mm³, accounting for only 1.47% of the total stone powder produced during the grinding process. In summary, the proposed method not only enhances processing efficiency but also reduces natural stone waste and mitigates environmental pollution.