A low-cost open-source automated shot peen forming system

The aerospace industry relies on shot peen forming to form sheet metal parts and correct distortion in machined parts. The shot peen forming community is developing simulation and planning methods to meet the industrial need for automation. Researchers need to invest in expensive industrial robots contained in large blasting cabinets to perform the experimental validations of their proposed methods. To bypass this need for expensive industrial-grade equipment, this work presents a low-cost shot peen forming system that enables researchers to validate their methods experimentally on small samples. Conventional installations can cost a few 100,000 USD while the proposed prototype only costs 400 USD to produce. Such a prototype can operate on a tabletop with conventional electrical installations. The use of small samples for validation further reduces the cost of experiments and allows for faster development.