Investigation of industrial robots vs joinery machines for milling pockets in glulam: Comparison based on surface quality and 3D scans

Joinery machines (JM) are state-of-the art for subtractive machining of timber. When considering costs, availability and multi-axis flexibility, industrial robots (IR) can be seen as a viable alternative as they show high potential for the increase of efficiency, workspace, and possibilities of machining. However, objective data for the quantification of this assumption are not available. This article investigates the capabilities of IRs for the milling of pockets in glued laminated timber. To enable a comparison, benchmark specimen milled using JMs were investigated alongside the pockets milled by IRs. The assessment was conducted by (a) nominal/actual geometry comparison, (b) the surface quality using the stylus method and an optical/haptic assessment, and (c) high-resolution 3D scans. The results show that IRs as standalone solution are competitive and a valuable supplement for existing facilities.