AutoFIN: Robot Automatically Grinds Press Dies

AI Surface Finish The Robot Is Now Putting the Finishing Touches on the Press Die

2026-11-06 From Munich University of Applied Sciences / Joshua Jegg | Translated by AI 7 min Reading Time

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The surface finishing of press tools is still done manually today. However, Munich University of Applied Sciences (Germany), BMW, Tebis, and MRK Systeme are now developing an automated solution for this ...

Say goodbye to manual labor! Here, a robot with an adaptive end-effector applies the finishing touches to the surface of a press die. Development is underway as part of the “AutoFIN” project. Pictured here is the gripper for automated grinding wheel and tool changes at the Cube for flexible scanning and camera capture.(Image: Munich University of Applied Sciences) — Say goodbye to manual labor! Here, a robot with an adaptive end-effector applies the finishing touches to the surface of a press die. Development is underway as part of the “AutoFIN” project. Pictured here is the gripper for automated grinding wheel and tool changes at the Cube for flexible scanning and camera capture.
(Image: Munich University of Applied Sciences)

Even at the end of a highly digitized production chain, it is often still a person holding a grinding wheel who completes the task. And while press dies for automotive body parts are manufactured on modern machine tools, their surfaces must subsequently undergo labor-intensive manual finishing. Experienced specialists remove milling marks and waviness, level out irregularities, and thus gradually create the desired surface finish. However, this work requires a great deal of experience and a delicate touch. At the same time, it is physically demanding and time-consuming. Automation would therefore be beneficial, but it is particularly challenging because toolmaking primarily involves the production of one-off parts. Each press die has a unique geometry with different free-form surfaces, radii, and transitions. For this reason, a robot movement programmed once cannot simply be transferred to the next die.

It's Not that Easy for a Robot to Take the Burden off Humans

In addition, a large portion of the process knowledge has so far been stored only in the minds of skilled workers. They intuitively decide in which direction to guide the grinding wheel, how much pressure to apply, and when a surface has been sufficiently machined. A robot, on the other hand, requires clear instructions. For example, it must recognize which areas may be machined, which grinding direction is appropriate, and how both the robot and the tool should be aligned during movement. At the same time, it is essential to prevent the grinding wheel from tilting, the robot from entering an unfavorable joint position, or even colliding with the component. The challenge, therefore, is not merely to move a robot across a surface. Rather, the experiential knowledge specific to human operators must be translated into mechanical functions, digital machining rules, and automated decisions. This is precisely where the “AutoFIN” project, funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation, comes in. The project focuses on a robot-assisted—that is, automated—alternative to manual work on press tools. The goal is to maintain the quality and flexibility of manual machining while simultaneously reducing the workload on skilled workers and making the process more reproducible and cost-effective. The project will run through June 2027 and is financially supported by the Bavarian Research Foundation.

Contents of the article:

Page 1: The Robot Is Now Putting the Finishing Touches on the Press Die
Page 2: The Human Hand Serves as a Model for an End-Effector
Page 3: A Camera Takes a Close Look at the Whole Picture

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