ROBOT VS. CNC MACHINE

For big scale hybrid manufacturing are two different machine setups practicable. One is the CNC-machine working in a closed frame with a numerical control . They are controlled by GCode and MCode. 3D-Printers and Milling-machines are mostly CNC-machines working with stepper or servo-motors. In both methods, the machines are very precise depending on the quality of the construction and the motors. Also in a big scale CNC-machines are very accurate and used for CNC-milling operations for example in the automotive industry. The other machine setup is the robot arm, normally used in the automotive industry for repetitive tasks like pick&place operations. In terms of automation tasks the robots are quiet accurate (under 1mm ) but in terms of motion, means moving on a giving path perfectly like CNC-machines do is very difficult for robot arms. A robot is working with inverse kinematics trying to follow a path in the TCP (Tool center point ) by informing all his joints to rotate in the right angle and direction. But the are still used for additive manufacturing and CNCmilling but with less accuracy then typical CNCmachines . But therefore with much more degrees of freedom and the ability to reach every point in the robot range out of different directions . And also robot companys like Kuka have still noticed these new fields for ther robots and developed a motion package called Kuka.CNC with much more accuracy in motion on a path working with standard CNC-Code.

6-Axis Freedom and more if needed Costs around 200.00 € Needs less space than a CNC-machine Community of developing endeffectors and software for parametric control and more

Less Accuracy then rigid CNC-machine more experimental and mostly not available as a full package out of the right hardware and software .

Both setups have advantages and disadvantages and it depends on the specific business case which machines would be the better choice. Is more accuracy needed or more the freedom of axis ? A big advantage of the robot is that it is a multipurpose machine and is able to make completely different tasks according to the mounted tool and therefore its probably the better machine for research into new fields of fabrication. A CNCmachine on the other side is mostly a closed system with no access to manipulate or change the given tools . A CNC-machine is mostly a complete package out of hardware and software working together in a perfect manner.

But it will soon happen that the robot accuracy gets better and better and also companies arise, which build working robot end-effectors together with the right software to run thousand of different senseful applications for a robotic arm.

High accuracy Hardware and Software are well aligned Easier access in fabrication process

Costs around 500.000 € and higher Much space needed Less axial freedom then robot