Industry-oriented Performance Measures for Design of Robot Calibration Experiment

The paper focuses on the accuracy improvement of geometric and elasto-static calibration of industrial robots. It proposes industry-oriented performance measures for the calibration experiment design. They are based on the concept of manipulator test-pose and referred to the end-effector location accuracy after application of the error compensation algorithm, which implements the identified parameters. This approach allows the users to define optimal measurement configurations for robot calibration for given work piece location and machining forces/torques. These performance measures are suitable for comparing the calibration plans for both simple and complex trajectories to be performed. The advantages of the developed techniques are illustrated by an example that deals with machining using robotic manipulator

Design of Calibration Experiments for Identification of Manipulator Elastostatic Parameters

The paper is devoted to the elastostatic calibration of industrial robots, which is used for precise machining of large-dimensional parts made of composite materials. In this technological process, the interaction between the robot and the workpiece causes essential elastic deflections of the manipulator components that should be compensated by the robot controller using relevant elastostatic model of this mechanism. To estimate parameters of this model, an advanced calibration technique is applied that is based on the non-linear experiment design theory, which is adopted for this particular application. In contrast to previous works, it is proposed a concept of the user-defined test-pose, which is used to evaluate the calibration experiments quality. In the frame of this concept, the related optimization problem is defined and numerical routines are developed, which allow generating optimal set of manipulator configurations and corresponding forces/torques for a given number of the calibration experiments. Some specific kinematic constraints are also taken into account, which insure feasibility of calibration experiments for the obtained configurations and allow avoiding collision between the robotic manipulator and the measurement equipment. The efficiency of the developed technique is illustrated by an application example that deals with elastostatic calibration of the serial manipulator used for robot-based machining.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1211.573

Design of Calibration Experiments for Identification of Manipulator Elastostatic Parameters

International audienceThe paper is devoted to the elastostatic calibration of industrial robots, which is used for precise machining of large-dimensional parts made of composite materials. In this technological process, the interaction between the robot and the workpiece causes essential elastic deflections of the manipulator components that should be compensated by the robot controller using relevant elastostatic model of this mechanism. To estimate parameters of this model, an advanced calibration technique is applied that is based on the non-linear experiment design theory, which is adopted for this particular application. In contrast to previous works, it is proposed a concept of the user-defined test-pose, which is used to evaluate the calibration experiments quality. In the frame of this concept, the related optimization problem is defined and numerical routines are developed, which allow generating optimal set of manipulator configurations and corresponding forces/torques for a given number of the calibration experiments. Some specific kinematic constraints are also taken into account, which insure feasibility of calibration experiments for the obtained configurations and allow avoiding collision between the robotic manipulator and the measurement equipment. The efficiency of the developed technique is illustrated by an application example that deals with elastostatic calibration of the serial manipulator used for robot-based machining

Calibration of an articulated CMM using stochastic approximations

A coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is meant to digitise the spatial locations of points and feed the resulting measurements to a CAD system for storing and processing. For reliable utilisation of a CMM, a calibration procedure is often undertaken to eliminate the inaccuracies which result from manufacturing, assembly and installation errors. In this paper, an Immersion digitizer coordinate measuring machine has been calibrated using an accurately manufactured master cuboid fixture. This CMM has been designed as an articulated manipulator to enhance its dexterity and versatility. As such, the calibration problem is tackled with the aid of a kinematic model similar to those employed for the analysis of serial robots. In addition, a stochastic-based optimisation technique is used to identify the parameters of the kinematic model in order for the accurate performance to be achieved. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method, whereby the measuring accuracy has been improved considerably. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London Limited

A new approach of kinematic geometry for error identification and compensation of industrial robots

A new approach for kinematic calibration of industrial robots, including the kinematic pair errors and the link errors, is developed in this paper based on the kinematic invariants. In most methods of kinematic calibration, the geometric errors of the robots are considered in forms of variations of the link parameters, while the kinematic pairs are assumed ideal. Due to the errors of mating surfaces in kinematic pairs, the fixed and moving axes of revolute pairs, or the fixed and moving guidelines of prismatic pairs, are separated, which can be concisely identified as the kinematic pair errors and the link errors by means of the kinematic pair errors model, including the self-adaption fitting of a ruled surface, or the spherical image curve fitting and the striction curve fitting. The approach is applied to the kinematic calibration of a SCARA robot. The discrete motion of each kinematic pair in the robot is completely measured by a coordinate measuring machine. Based on the global kinematic properties of the measured motion, the fixed and moving axes, or guidelines, of the kinematic pairs are identified, which are invariants unrelated to the positions of the measured reference points. The kinematic model of the robot is set up using the identified axes and guidelines. The results validate the approach developed has good efficiency and accuracy. </jats:p

Incorporation of the influences of kinematics parameters and joints tilting for the calibration of serial robotic manipulators

Serial robotic manipulators are calibrated to improve and restore their accuracy and repeatability. Kinematics parameters calibration of a robot reduces difference between the model of a robot in the controller and its actual mechanism to improve accuracy. Kinematics parameter’s error identification in the standard kinematics calibration has been configuration independent which does not consider the influence of kinematics parameter on robot tool pose accuracy for a given configuration. This research analyses the configuration dependent influences of kinematics parameters error on pose accuracy of a robot. Based on the effect of kinematics parameters, errors in the kinematics parameters are identified. Another issue is that current kinematics calibration models do not incorporate the joints tilting as a result of joint clearance, backlash, and flexibility, which is critical to the accuracy of serial robotic manipulators, and therefore compromises a pose accuracy. To address this issue which has not been carefully considered in the literature, this research suggested an approach to model configuration dependent joint tilting and presents a novel approach to encapsulate them in the calibration of serial robotic manipulators. The joint tilting along with the kinematics errors are identified and compensated in the kinematics model of the robot. Both conventional and proposed calibration approach are tested experimentally, and the calibration results are investigated to demonstrate the effectiveness of this research. Finally, the improvement in the trajectory tracking accuracy of the robot has been validated with the help of proposed low-cost measurement set-up.Thesis (M.Phil.) (Research by Publication) -- University of Adelaide, School of Mechanical Engineering , 201

ACCURACY IMPROVEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL SERIAL MANIPULATORS FOR MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS

Modern Industrial robots are designed to be highly repeatable (< 0.1 mm) but not as globally accurate (<2 mm). Global accuracy, however, is necessary for tasks where it is not convenient to “teach” the robot the set of poses it needs to run through to perform the task. In addition, some of these tasks, like machining, may involve high time-varying external forces which cause the robot to deflect and its accuracy to suffer further. This dissertation investigates modeling and control strategies for the purpose of improving the global accuracy of the robot for manufacturing tasks including machining. First, a comparison of stiffness modeling techniques is conducted to examine when it is important to account for the structural dynamics of the robot, versus when static stiffness calibrations are sufficient. Next, a new method of performing a highly accurate state estimation of the robot end-effector by combining instantaneous inertial and pose measurements is proposed and evaluated. Finally, a new method for performing stability-prediction of closed-loop systems involving industrial manipulators and external sensors, which involves representing real-time position corrections as force inputs, is presented and evaluated.Ph.D

Calibration of a serial robot using a laser tracker

The positioning performance of an industrial robot ABB IRB 1600-6/1.45 has been studied with a laser tracker. Performing some axis-by-axis analyses, we found that axes 2, 3 and 6 have a non-geometrical behavior. A 34-parameter model was used to represent the real robot. This error model takes into account the geometrical errors due to fabrication as well as four error parameters related to stiffness (in axes 2 and 3) and four other error parameters used to fit a second-order Fourier series to the non-linear behavior of axis 6. The Nelder-Mead non linear optimization technique was used to find the error parameters that best fit the measures acquired with the laser tracker. An algebraic solution for the inverse kinematics is not possible for the 34-parameter model. We therefore propose a numerical and iterative inverse algorithm to recalculate the robot targets into so-called fake targets. No more than three iterations are needed to accurately obtain the joint angles corresponding to a given pose of the end-effector. Similar tests to the ones proposed by the ISO 9283 norm are performed to compare the accuracy of the nominal and improved robot models. The validation of the accuracy is done with a large number of measures. For the 34-parameter model the mean / maximum position errors are reduced from 0.979 mm / 2.326 mm to 0.329 mm / 0.916 mm (verification performed with around 1000 measurements), at a 6 kg payload, for eight points on the endeffector and for the complete robot workspace (or almost complete, since we had to avoid some obstacles). Analyses were performed with the expected errors. They allow to “pre-validate” the models without having to take extra measurements. It was found that this pre-validation is very close to the real validation

Contribution to improving the accuracy of serial robots

The goal of the present study is to improve the accuracy of six-revolute industrial robots using calibration methods. These methods identify the values of the calibrated robot model to improve the correspondence between the real robot and the mathematical model used in its controller. The calibrated robot model adds error parameters to the nominal model, which correspond to the geometric errors of the robot as well as the stiffness behavior of the robot. The developed methods focus on using low cost measurement equipment. For instance, the first work makes a comparison between a robot calibration performed using a laser tracker and a stereo camera (MMT optique) separately. The accuracy performance is validated using a telescoping ballbar for each of the two methods. While the calibration result is the same for both methods, the price of a laser tracker is more than twice the price of a stereo camera. The method is tested using an ABB IRB120 robot, a Faro ION laser tracker, and a Creaform CTrack stereo camera to calibrate the robot. A Renishaw QC20-W ballbar is used to validate the accuracy. A novel measurement system to measure a set of poses is described in the second work. The device is an extension of a known approach using an hexapod (a Stewart-Gough platform). One fixture is attached to the robot base and the other to the robot end-effector, each having three magnetic cups. By taking six ballbar measurements at a time, it is possible to measure 144 poses of the triangular fixture attached to the robot end-effector with respect to the base fixture. The position accuracy of the device is 3.2 times the accuracy of the QC20-W ballbar: ± 0.003 mm. An absolute robot calibration using this novel 6D measurement system is performed in the third work of this thesis. The robot is calibrated in 61 configurations and the absolute position accuracy of the robot after calibration is validated with a Faro laser tracker in about 10,000 robot configurations. The mean distance error is improved from 1.062 mm to 0.400 mm in 50 million pairs of measurements throughout the complete robot workspace. To allow a comparison, the robot is also calibrated using the laser tracker and the robot accuracy validated in the same 10,000 robot configurations