Development and Application of a Dual-Robot Fabrication System in Figuring of a 2.4 m × 4.58 m CFRP Antenna Reflector Surface

The demand for large-scale components continues to grow with the development of frontier technologies. Traditionally, these components are machined using machine tools, which are costly and have functional limitations. High-flexibility robots provide a cost-effective solution for machining large-scale components. This research proposes a dual-robot fabrication system for producing a 2.4 m × 4.58 m carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) antenna reflector. First, the kinematic model of the in-house developed robot was established to compute its theoretical workspace, which was subsequently used to partition the machining regions. Based on laser tracker measurements and theoretical calculations, a method and procedure for calibrating the Tool Center Point and Tool Control Frame of the robot were proposed. Subsequently, the dual-robot fabrication system was configured based on the determined machining regions for each robot. To further improve the figuring accuracy of the system, the support structure and figuring path were investigated and determined. Finally, processing experiments were conducted, and the material removal function for the flexible processing tool was computed to shape the reflector surface. The final results achieved the required surface figure accuracies for areas ≤ φ1750 mm, ≤φ2400 mm, and the whole surface were improved to 13.5 μm RMS, 23.4 μm RMS, and 45.8 μm RMS, respectively. This validates the processing capability and demonstrates the potential application of the dual-robot fabrication system in producing large-scale components with high accuracy.