Vision-based closed-loop robotic fine grinding of aeroengine turbine seals utilizing Gabor Wavelet Transform

Research question

How can worn honeycomb structures be removed from distorted turbine seals without excessive damage to the reusable substrate?

Method

Three-dimensional vision generates the coarse-grinding path. Gabor wavelets, PCA and K-Means then identify remaining honeycomb regions, while visual pose correction and six-axis force sensing support closed-loop fine grinding.

Main findings

For the turbine seals tested in the paper, honeycomb removal exceeded 98%, substrate overcut remained within 0.1 mm, and the ground surface reached Ra 2.2 μm. The experiments demonstrate the value of combining visual correction with force control.