Research question
How can measured point clouds directly produce practical grinding paths for weld beads on curved surfaces?
Method
A local point-cloud descriptor isolates the weld bead, and ISS keypoints with NURBS fitting define the path. Robot manipulability and pose variation guide tool-pose and joint-configuration optimization for stable motion.
Main findings
Rocket-skin weld-bead trials demonstrate the complete chain from segmentation and path generation to optimized robot grinding, evaluated through before/after profile comparisons. The method targets semi-finishing and stock removal preceding precision finishing of large parts.