It’s Time for Your Robot to Paint!

By Scott Adams

Adding a painting robot to a production process can bring with it improved qualiy
and productivity. The functionality and cost of robotic paint
systems has improved tremendously over the past two decades,
and the technology is earning its way into small and medium-size
production operations. Coating systems bring tremendous value in decorative
application and functionality to products. At the same time, the
industry goes to great lengths to minimize or eliminate human
exposure to overspray and solvent vapors. For repetitive coating
processes, a robot can be a great way to minimize human
exposure, provide a stable and uniform film across months
and years of production, andnmaximize production through-
put. It is not difficult to program a robot to move along a path at a
given speed and trigger a paint applicator nor is it difficult for a
human to wave their arms and trigger a spray gun. Knowing
how to properly configure the applicator, coordinate triggers
and motions, and manage process variables is what separates
a highly skilled painter from an unskilled sprayer.
There can be a dozen or more interrelated factors at
play during a coating application process. What seems
simple on the surface has left many capable engineers and
chemists wringing their hands in frustration while spraying
hundreds or even thousands of test panels to find optimal
application settings for their robotic application process.
A trial-and-error setup approach is expensive, time
consuming, and frustrating for everyone involved. Fortunately,
there is a very successful and time-tested structured methodology employed by many of the
coating industry’s most capable users, applicator manufacturers, robot manufacturers, and
material formulators. With a data-driven and structured approach, any organization with a robot and a paint
applicator can leverage these techniques to greatly reduce
the time and effort required to set up a high-quality robotic
painting process. There is a wealth of technical literature
available on paint atomization, coating formulation, and robotic optimization.