3m Innovative Properties Company

Mark W Orlando

Brett R Hemes

Aaron K Nienaber

Jonathan B Arthur

Thomas J Strey

Nathan J Herbst

Christie L Vitale

Juan A Munoz

Sarah M Mullins

Marc Eberwein

Gilles J Benoit

Brian E Brooks

Edward J Woo

Nicholas A Johnson

Jon A Kirschhoffer

Glenn E Casner

Maureen Ann Kavanagh

Frederick J Arsenault

Steven P Floeder

Charles J Studiner, Iv

Himanshu Nayar

Peter O Olson

Tyler W Olson

Nataliya V Fedorova

Patrick G Zimmerman

Christopher M Brown

Timothy J Clemens

Jeffrey P Adolf

Lori A Sjolund

Andreas Backes

Gregory P Moriarty

Peter J Schneider

Cory D Sauer

Nicholas B Manor

Nicholas D Richardson

Miaoding Dai

Carter C Hughes

Daniel M Bodily

Zachary M Schaeffer

Scott L Barnett

Matthew H Purdin

Charles J Iv Studiner

A method and associated system provides automated abrasive paint repair using automated abrasive paint repair devices that selectively sand, buff, and polish a substrate in response to received instructions generated by a controller. The controller receives coordinates of each identified defect in the substrate along with parameters describing characteristics of each defect, selects a sanding process, a buffing process, and/or a polishing process based on empirically derived rules established by skilled/expert human operators and the received parameters. The controller outputs instructions to cause the automated abrasive paint repair devices to execute the selected sanding process, buffing process, and/or polishing process using the received parameters. The empirically derived rules and parameters may be stored in a lookup table and/or updated by a machine learning module.

Paint repair process by scenario

A disc changing system for a robotic defect repair system is presented. The system has a first abrasive disc and a second abrasive disc. The first and second abrasive discs are coupled to a liner. The system includes an abrasive disc placement device configured to automatically: remove the first abrasive disc from the liner, transport the first abrasive disc to a robotic tool of the robotic defect repair system, and place the first abrasive disc on a backup pad coupled to the robotic tool. The system also includes an abrasive disc remover configured to automatically remove the first abrasive disc after receiving a removal signal. The system also includes a controller configured to send an instruction to the disc placement device to remove, transport and place the first abrasive disc, instruct the robotic tool to conduct an abrasive operation. The controller is also configured to send the removal signal. The controller is a processor and the instructions are stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executed by the processor.

Robotic paint repair

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for optimizing a process of manufacturing a product. In one aspect, the method comprises repeatedly performing the following: i) selecting a configuration of input settings for manufacturing a product, based on a causal model that measures causal relationships between input settings and a measure of a quality of the product; ii) determining the measure of the quality of the product manufactured using the configuration of input settings; and iii) adjusting, based on the measure of the quality of the product manufactured using the configuration of input settings, the causal model.

Manufacturing a product using causal models

A repaired area on a work surface is presented. The repaired area includes a repairboundary. Within the repairboundary, the work surface has a repair texture and, outside of the repair boundary, the work surface has a work surface texture. The repaired area also includes a repair depth distribution within the repair boundary and a concealing feature. The repaired area is a result of a robotic repair executed on the work surface to remove a defect.

Robotic repair control systems and methods

An abrasive article useful for finishing painted or clear coated surfaces is disclosed. The abrasive article included a structured abrasive layer disposed on a backing that is adhesively attached to nonwoven layer useful for providing conformability and attachment to a hook layer. The structured abrasive layer includes a central aperture and a plurality of surrounding apertures.

Abrasive article

Growing community of inventors

Chesterfield Township, MI, United States of America

Mark W Orlando