Feedrate planning for machining with industrial six-axis robots

The authors want to thank Stäubli for providing the necessary information of the controller, Dynalog for its contribution to the experimental validations and X. Helle for its material contributions.Nowadays, the adaptation of industrial robots to carry out high-speed machining operations is strongly required by the manufacturing industry. This new technology machining process demands the improvement of the overall performances of robots to achieve an accuracy level close to that realized by machine-tools. This paper presents a method of trajectory planning adapted for continuous machining by robot. The methodology used is based on a parametric interpolation of the geometry in the operational space. FIR filters properties are exploited to generate the tool feedrate with limited jerk. This planning method is validated experimentally on an industrial robot

Improving the Accuracy of Industrial Robots by offline Compensation of Joints Errors

The use of industrial robots in many fields of industry like prototyping, pre-machining and end milling is limited because of their poor accuracy. Robot joints are mainly responsible for this poor accuracy. The flexibility of robots joints and the kinematic errors in the transmission systems produce a significant error of position in the level of the end-effector. This paper presents these two types of joint errors. Identification methods are presented with experimental validation on a 6 axes industrial robot, STAUBLI RX 170 BH. An offline correction method used to improve the accuracy of this robot is validated experimentally

Feedrate planning for machining with industrial six-axis robots

The authors want to thank Stäubli for providing the necessary information of the controller, Dynalog for its contribution to the experimental validations and X. Helle for its material contributions.International audienceNowadays, the adaptation of industrial robots to carry out high-speed machining operations is strongly required by the manufacturing industry. This new technology machining process demands the improvement of the overall performances of robots to achieve an accuracy level close to that realized by machine-tools. This paper presents a method of trajectory planning adapted for continuous machining by robot. The methodology used is based on a parametric interpolation of the geometry in the operational space. FIR filters properties are exploited to generate the tool feedrate with limited jerk. This planning method is validated experimentally on an industrial robot

Toward on-line robot vibratory modes estimation

International audienceThis paper is concerned with preliminary results on robot vibratory modes on-line estimation. The dominating oscillatory mode of the robot arm is isolated by comparing the robot position given by the motors encoders and an external measure at the tool-tip of the robot arm. In this article the external measurement is provided by a laser tracker. The isolation of the oscillation permits to identify the vibratory mode, \textit{i.e.} the natural frequency and the damping ratio of the undesired phenomena. Here we propose a comparison between the algebraic method and the sliding modes for the parameter identification. This comparison is motivated by the fact that both methods provide finite time convergence. Experimental identifications are proposed on a 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) manipulator robot, Stäubli RX-170B

Task-oriented rigidity optimization for 7 DOF redundant manipulators

In this work, redundancy resolution has been employed to increase the Cartesian mechanical rigidity of 7 DOF robot manipulators during tasks requiring stiff interactions with the environment (e.g. milling or drilling). The Cartesian static stiffness of the end-effector for a given joint configuration is deduced from an identified joints stiffness model. The Cartesian reflected rigidity evolution over an analytically computed self-motion of the manipulator shows significant variations that clearly highlight the need to select the right set of joint angles among the possible ones. A global optimization scheme of the redundant DOF is proposed to determine the stiffest robot configurations for a given pose of the end-effector. An experimental study on 7 DOF KUKA LBR iiwa then shows the relevance of the proposed approach in finding the redundant robot joint angles that optimize this rigidity criteria

Toward on-line robot vibratory modes estimation

This paper is concerned with preliminaries results on robot vibratory modes on-line estimation. The dominating oscillatory mode of the robot arm is isolated by comparing the robot position given by the motors encoders and an external measure at the tool-tip of the robot arm. In this article the external measurement is provided by a laser tracker. The isolation of the oscillation permits to identify the vibratory mode, i.e. the natural frequency and the damping ratio of the undesired phenomena. Here we propose a comparison between the algebraic method and the sliding modes for the parameter identification. This comparison is motivated by the fact that both methods provide finite time convergence. Experimental identifications are proposed on a 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) manipulator robot, St¨aubli RX-170B

Dissociated jerk-limited trajectory applied to time-varying vibration reduction

Jerk-limited trajectories are a widespread solution for the trajectory planning of industrial machines Tools or robots. It is known that jerk limitation can reduce vibrations and in some cases can totally suppress residual vibration induced by a lightly damped stationary mode. However, for systems with time-varying mode, which is classically the case for configuration dependent mode or load mass variations, the previous result vanishes. This paper proposes to extend the jerk-limited profile (JL) properties to time-varying vibration problem. First, a guideline for designing a dissociated jerk-limited profile (DJL) based on simple and pragmatic Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filtering methodology is presented. Following the guideline, the time-varying vibration reduction principle is detailed. Then, experiments conducted on an industrial 3-axes Cartesian manipulator are presented. The experimental results show that the residual vibration magnitude is reduced to less than 23% of the original level obtained with JL profile and the settling time is reduced by 10%, demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed DJL trajectory planning

Amélioration de la précision des robots industriels pour des applications d'usinage a grande vitesse

Industrial robots are usually used to realize industrial tasks like material handling, welding, cutting and spray painting. The mobility, flexibility and important work space of these robots allow using them in new fields of industry such as prototyping, cleaning and pre-machining of casts parts as well as end-machining of middle tolerance parts. These new applications require a high level pose accuracy and to achieve a good path tracking. Unfortunately industrial robots were designed to have a good repeatability but not a good accuracy. Their poor accuracy is caused by geometric factors and non-geometric factors. Many fields of investigation are proposed to increase the accuracy of industrial robots like: robot calibration, process development and control system. In this work, firstly, the focus lies on developing an efficient and pragmatic trajectory planning algorithm for continuous machining operations with a 6-axis robot. Secondly, compliances of robots joints are identified and used to calculate the Cartesian compliance at the end effector of the robot. This Cartesian compliance is employed in a strategy to optimize the stiffness of robot structure during machining. The compliances of robot joints are used also in an elasto-static model allowing anticipating the displacement of the end-effector caused by external loads. Finally, a model based technique is used to compensate two joints major errors: compliance error and kinematic errors. The model of each error is integrated then in our trajectory planner in order to realize an off-line compensation of joints errors.Les robots poly-articulés industriels sont un moyen de production moins couteux que les machines outils. De part leur structure, ils sont moins rigides, mais ils disposent d'une agilité et d'une zone de travail plus importante. L'exploitation de ces avantages pour la réalisation de certaines opérations continues, comme l'usinage par exemple, fait l'objet d'une demande croissante de l'industrie manufacturière. Ces nouvelles applications des robots poly-articulés pour l'usinage nécessitent de progresser sur le front de l'amélioration de la précision statique et dynamique de ces structures. Ainsi, afin d'améliorer la précision des robots, nous avons développé dans ce travail de thèse une méthode de planification de trajectoire basée sur l'interpolation paramétrique des courbes géométriques. Cette méthode permet de maîtriser le positionnement et la cinématique de l'outil pour les applications nécessitant un suivi de profil continu et notamment pour l'usinage. Nous proposons ainsi de qualifier les différentes souplesses des robots industriels 6 axes afin de déduire une cartographie de rigidité dans l'espace de travail cartésien. Une méthode exploitant cette cartographie permettant l'optimisation de la configuration géométrique du robot pour l'usinage est présentée. Les souplesses axiales des articulations sont intégrées dans un modèle élasto-statique utilisé pour la commande. Ce modèle permet d'anticiper les déviations statiques induites par ces souplesses articulaires. Enfin, nous mettons en évidence les défauts de transmission associés aux chaînes cinématiques des axes du robot. Nous montrons que ces défauts sont à l'origine d'une erreur de position au niveau de l'organe terminal de l'ordre de quelques dixièmes de millimètre. Un protocole d'identification de ces défauts est proposé. Ces défauts sont modélisés et intégrés dans une stratégie de correction hors ligne de position

Dynamic Simulation of the Six Axis Machining Robot for Trajectory Planning in CATIA-LMS

International audienceNowadays six axis machining robots are widely used in many fields of industry. Compared to machine tools, industrial robots offer a cheaper yet more flexible alternative to the machine-tools in the cleaning and pre-machining applications of aluminum castings. But the low stiffness has limited the application of industrial robots to the machining tasks with very low precision requirement. This paper presents a practical approach to improve the robot-machining accuracy by developing an off -line simulation tool. Firstly we will complete the dynamic simulation of the 6-axis stiff model in CATIA-LMS for trajectory planning. Secondly we will set flexible joints and balancing system for the industry machining robot in LMS. Finally we will make some compare with the position trajectories generated by flexible joint and stiff joint, and then adjust the parameters under the references of the simulation result before the industry machining

Enhanced trajectory planning for machining with industrial six-axis robots

International audienceThis paper presents a practical approach to adapt the trajectory planning stage for industrial robots to realize continuous machining operations. Firstly, L1 interpolation is introduced to generate efficiently the tool-paths in the form of shape-preserving quintic splines. Then, the tool-tip feedrate planning in Cartesian space is done using a smooth jerk limited pattern and taking into account the joints kinematics constraints. Experimental validations conducted on a 6-axis industrial robot demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology of trajectory planning in the context of machining