Automation The perfect marriage between CNC, robot and controller

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Automation for CNC-class applications requires more than standard robotics. CNC Solutions has developed a Technology Package that seamlessly integrates CAM, motion control and robot execution. By combining offline programming, CNC-style control and high-precision robotics, the system delivers predictable multi-axis performance and significantly reduces commissioning time.

On paper, a robot is just a set of joints and motors. On a production floor, however, it becomes something entirely different. CNC Solutions in Belgium learned that the hard way years ago, when teach-in methods that worked for simple pick-and-place began to crumble under CNC-class workloads. In milling, sanding, laser or plasma cutting paths, the motion isn’t a few hundred points; it’s millions. “For CNC processes you’re talking millions of points — you can’t teach a robot that; you need CAM,” recalls Managing Director Lander Debruyne.

The problem they refused to accept

CNC Solutions had been building CNC-based paths since the 1990s and delivering turnkey cells long before “robot CNC” was fashionable. But as jobs grew more demanding — multi-axis milling, abrasive sanding, high-speed trimming — the usual controller-centric approach buckled. The team needed a flow that started in CAM, simulated the real cell, and then drove the robot like a CNC — deterministic, predictable, and fast. Over more than a decade of projects (and hard-won lessons with Stäubli robots), they accumulated the know-how to do exactly that.

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What made Stäubli the constant? Precision and repeatability, yes — but also sealed construction that shrugs off dust and chips, and the ability to interface a CNC-style motion layer to the robot cleanly for trajectory execution. For abrasive work like grinding and milling, that combination proved decisive.

From project playbook to product

The turning point was deciding to package the method, not just repeat it. CNC Solutions codified everything into a Technology Package: one stack that bundles the software layer, the motion control layer, and the robot — ready for an integrator to extend with their own PLCs, fixturing, and process equipment. The processes (milling, welding, sanding, laser cutting, and more) arrive predefined and tuned to the machine, so teams start from a validated baseline instead of a blank page.

Under the hood are three pillars. First, Ency Robot, an offline programming (OLP) software, that accurately calculates toolpaths and simulates the entire cell for industrial robots. Second, a Beckhoff motion controller that commands the robot like a standard CNC — feeds, modes, frames, the works. Third, a Stäubli robot that executes those paths with the accuracy and duty cycle that production demands.

New mobile app

Ency’s new app streamlines robot TCP calibration

That stack didn’t materialize overnight. As Debruyne explains, the team “deepened its expertise step by step,” optimizing robot axis motions until the commissioning process behaved more like a CNC machine than a bespoke experiment. The result is a productized nucleus that other integrators can now drop into their cells.

Why Ency became the accelerator

CNC Solutions anchored the offline robot programming layer on Ency. Instead of spending hours on online programming with the robot idle, Ency simulates the whole cell, checks axis limits, avoids singularities, and runs full collision control — so commissioning time turns into production time. It is genuinely all-in-one: design, technology setup, toolpath calculation, and simulation in one environment, with a zero-code digital-twin builder and libraries of post-processors and robot models. In short, the CAM you trust becomes the robot’s language — cleanly, predictably, repeatably.

“Start from a familiar CNC environment and translate CAM strategies to robot motion” — that’s how the team describes the philosophy. The choice of Ency reflects that pragmatism: broad functionality for simple two-axis jobs and complex multi-axis cells, with code paths and models managed in-house so behavior stays transparent.

Out-of-the-box processes include milling, grinding, deburring, polishing, blasting (wet/dry), plasma and laser cutting/welding, waterjet cutting, cladding, painting, cleaning, gluing, and more.

Plug-and-play, in the literal sense

The Technology Package goes beyond software. Plug-and-play wiring means the Stäubli robot ties to the controller over a single cable; the package arrives with predefined processes specific to the cell. CNC-style modes (Auto, Manual, Home), feed overrides, and emergEncy-stop logic are standard. The system exposes process I/O and communication hooks for the plant network and supports speed control during automatic runs. Even the encoder-wheel-style manual moves are accounted for.

And because every real cell drifts from spec, the details that usually chew up a month are already in the box: absolute/TCP/frame calibration, singularity handling, OPC UA connectivity, real-time path adjustments, and tool-wear compensation.

The most telling measure is how quickly integrators can move from “robot installed” to “first good part.” With Ency removing online robot teaching and the motion layer behaving like a CNC, teams skip the fragile hand-offs and focus on fixtures, tools, and process windows. That change — compressing risk and time where it matters — turned CNC Solutions’ project know-how into a product. When the company brought the Technology Package to EMO Hannover 2025, it did so on two fronts: at Stäubli, where the package ran live, and at Ency, where the latest generation of the software demonstrated the exact CAD-to-cell workflow behind it.

What makes this package convincing

High-accuracy robot CNC isn’t pick-and-place. Paths are dense, physics is unforgiving, and production hates surprises. Without offline programming tied to a CNC-style motion layer, you pay in idle robots, creeping timelines, and inconsistent quality. The Technology Package eliminates those penalties by making the robot behave like the machine your operators already trust — so you stop babysitting a pendant and start shipping parts.

Debruyne sums up the journey without fanfare: “Robots only pay back when you build a real solution around them.” The Technology Package is that solution for CNC-class robot work — engineered, tested, and validated — born from a decade of production and the right combination of tools.

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