AutoEdge: automated edge path generation for surface finishing and material removal
Programming an edge-following robot in minutes — from CAD straight to motion.
Edge work — deburring, chamfering, flash removal — has resisted automation longer than almost any other manufacturing process. The reason isn't the motion; robots are perfectly capable of dragging a tool along a curve. The reason is the programming time required to teach every edge of every part, one waypoint at a time.
What AutoEdge does
AutoEdge generates edge-following toolpaths directly from a CAD model. The workflow is:
- Import the part's CAD geometry.
- Select the edges that need processing.
- Set the process parameters — tool, contact angle, feed rate.
- AutoEdge generates the kinematically valid, collision-aware path.
What used to take hours of pendant teaching now takes minutes. The output is a ready-to-deploy program that respects joint limits, singularities, and reach constraints.
Where it pays back
Three places, in our experience:
- High-mix shops running short batches of varied parts. Programming time was the wall; AutoEdge removes it.
- MRO and repair work where every part is one-of-a-kind.
- Finishing cells that previously needed a dedicated programmer for every new geometry.
AutoEdge is part of the broader Augmentus platform — combined with vision-guided adaptation, the path can be re-anchored to the actual part at execution time.
