The Institute of Plasma Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IPP CAS) is a public research institution founded in 1959, focusing on both fundamental and applied plasma research, particularly in the fields of thermonuclear fusion, plasma technologies, and plasma–material interactions.

Plasma spraying is a technique used to create protective coatings or free-standing structures. The material, in powder or liquid form, is injected into a plasma jet, where it is melted and accelerated. The plasma torch is mounted on an ABB robot, which ensures precise and repeatable movement during the spraying process. As the molten particles impact and solidify on the surface, they form a layered coating.

IPP CAS participated in our pilot program, through which we successfully verified that RoboTeach technology can be applied even in highly sophisticated and specific environments. Using RoboTeach, we created robotic programs for complex trajectories, which the ABB robot utilizes both for plasma spraying and for cooling the sprayed product. Until now, creating such complex trajectories would have been impractical without our system, as it would have required significantly more time.

The plasma spraying process consists of three main phases: preheating, spraying, and cooling. Cooling is carried out using a dedicated cooling device, which is also mounted on the robot’s end effector. First, the product must be preheated to a predefined temperature to ensure that the molten ceramic particles properly adhere to the surface during spraying. After preheating, a repeated cycle of spraying and cooling is applied. In this way, the material is deposited layer by layer onto the product.

Since each product and sprayed material has different properties, the required preheating temperature and spraying distance vary. Therefore, we generated robotic programs in our application for a wide range of differently positioned Tool Center Points.

Using our RoboTwinApp, we converted the recorded trajectories directly into ABB robot modules, which could then be easily implemented into the robot’s control software. This allowed the entire plasma spraying process to run in the same way that researchers at IPP CAS are accustomed to in their laboratory environment.