An Automated Method to Calibrate Industrial Robots Using a Virtual Closed Kinematic Chain

This paper describes an industrial robot calibration algorithm called the virtual closed kinematic chain method. Current robot kinematic calibration methods use measurements of position and orientation of the end effector. The accuracy of these measurements is limited by the resolution of the measuring equipment. In the proposed method, a laser pointer tool, attached to the robot's end effector, aims at a constant but unknown location on a fixed object, effectively creating a virtual 7 DOFs closed kinematic chain. As a result, small variations in position and orientation of the end effector are magnified on the distant object. Hence, the resolution of observations is improved, increasing the accuracy of joint angle measurements that are required to calibrate the robot. The method is verified using both simulation and real experiments. It is also shown in simulation that the method can be automated by a feedback system that can be implemented in real time. The accuracy of the robot after using the proposed calibration procedure is measured by aiming at an arbitrary fixed point and measuring the mean and standard deviation of the radius of spread of the projected points. The mean and standard deviation of the radius of spread were improved from 5.64 and 1.89 mm to 1.05 and 0.587 mm, respectively.     

Kinematic calibration of a five-bar planar parallel robot using all working modes

We present a simple low-cost calibration procedure that improves the planar positioning accuracy of a double-arm SCARA robot to levels difficult or impossible to achieve using an equivalent serial robot. Measurements are based on the use of five custom designed magnetic tooling balls fixed to the periphery of a detachable working plate. Three of these tooling balls define the world reference frame of the robot, and the positions of the centers of all balls are measured on a CMM. A special magnetic cup end-effector is used. Measurements are taken by manually positioning the end-effector over each of the tooling balls, with each of the maximum of four possible robot configurations. Each of these measurements is repeatable to within±0.015 mm. The robot calibration model includes all 12 kinematic parameters, and the calibration method used is based on the linearization of the direct kinematics model in each calibration configuration. The optimal number and location of the tooling balls is obtained by studying the observability index. Finally, an experimental validation at 14 additional tooling balls shows that the maximum position error with respect to the world frame is reduced to 0.080 mm within the entire robot's workspace of 600 mm×600 mm.     

基于DSP的集控式足球机器人控制系统设计

以集控式足球机器人为研究对象,以双闭环视觉伺服控制结构为主线,提出了基于DSP技术和非线性PI控制算法的机器人小车控制系统设计,保证了控制的准确性,提高了控制的实时性;论证了单参数模糊自校正非线性PI算法应用于机器人位置环控制中的可行性,增强了系统的自适应能力。实验证明了此方案对足球机器人运动控制的有效性,其原理对其它类型移动机器人的控制同样有借鉴作用。     

基于WMPS的飞机大部件对接测控技术

现有的飞机大部件对接系统主要利用激光跟踪仪对部件位姿进行测量定位,可以达到较高精度.但由于激光跟踪仪每次只能测量一个靶球,故在效率上满足不了对接需求.工作空间测量定位系统(WMPS,Workspace Measuring and Positioning System)作为一种新型的、采用光平面交会原理的大尺寸三维坐标测量系统,具有测量精度高、测量效率高、测量范围大等特点,在大尺寸数字化测量及装配等领域具有重要应用价值.提出了一种基于wMPS系统进行飞机大部件对接的测控技术,能够同时满足对接过程中测量精度和测量效率的要求.     

Absolute calibration of an ABB IRB 1600 robot using a laser tracker

The absolute accuracy of an ABB IRB 1600 industrial robot is improved using a 29-parameter calibration model, developed after extensive experimentation. The error model takes into account all possible geometric errors (25 geometric error parameters to be identified through optimization, in addition to the pose parameters for the base and tool frames and four error parameters related to the compliance in joints 2, 3, 4 and 5). The least squares optimization technique is used to find the 29 error parameters that best fit the measures acquired with a laser tracker. Contrary to most other similar works, the validation of the robot's accuracy is performed with a very large number of measures (1,000) throughout the complete robot's joint space. After calibration, the mean/maximum position errors at any of eight different measurement points on the end-effector (all offset from axis 6 by approximately 120 mm) are reduced from 0.968 mm/2.158 mm respectively, to 0.364 mm/0.696 mm.     

基于身管的指向精度测量技术研究

武器装备的动态性能是靶场鉴定、定型试验评价系统的重要技术指标之一,目前高速转管火炮及武器是新型的现代化武器;一个合格的身管武器在投入使用前都需要进行动态性能的测试,合膛身管在预定击发瞬间的实际指向与预定射向的偏离角度是测试身管武器动态性能的重要技术指标;为了解决转管速射武器以及带有稳定功能的炮塔武器在击发瞬间,身管的指向精度及其稳定性的测试难题,提出一种采用激光棱瞄配合光斑图像处理的测量方法来解决这个问题;详细介绍了该方法的身管指向测试原理及结构组成,通过建立身管指向的数学模型,深入分析了该结构的测量原理,经过搭建模拟实验装置并进行实验,在分析实验数据之后,计算出实验误差范围在3%以内,证明了该方法的可行性。     

Reconstruction of 3D contour with an active laser‐vision robotic system

This paper presents a 3D contour reconstruction approach employing a wheeled mobile robot equipped with an active laser‐vision system. With observation from an onboard CCD camera, a laser line projector fixed‐mounted below the camera is used for detecting the bottom shape of an object while an actively‐controlled upper laser line projector is utilized for 3D contour reconstruction. The mobile robot is driven to move around the object by a visual servoing and localization technique while the 3D contour of the object is being reconstructed based on the 2D image of the projected laser line. Asymptotical convergence of the closed‐loop system has been established. The proposed algorithm also has been used experimentally with a Dr Robot X80sv mobile robot upgraded with the low‐cost active laser‐vision system, thereby demonstrating effective real‐time performance. This seemingly novel laser‐vision robotic system can be applied further in unknown environments for obstacle avoidance and guidance control tasks. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Camera calibration issues in robot calibration with eye-on-hand configuration

One of the possible methods for accurate, fast, low-cost and automated robot calibration is to employ a single camera rigidly mounted to the robot end-effector together with a single camera calibration board. The end-effector pose is measured by calibration of the camera at every robot measurement configuration. This paper contends that, with several modifications, Tsai's radial alignment constraint (RAC) camera calibration method can be made a fast and sufficiently accurate pose measurement technique. This paper focuses on speed, accuracy and cost enhancement of RAC-based camera calibration. A fast RAC-based algorithm is proposed, which cuts the computation time of Tsai's original algorithm by about a 5: 1 ratio while keeping its accuracy within the tolerances required for a successful robot calibration. A low-cost method for estimation of the ratio of scale factors of the camera/vision system is also proposed. This method does not require a precision vertical micrometer stage to provide non-coplanar calibration points data for camera calibration. Finally, the phenomenon of perspective projection distortion of circular camera calibration points is fully analyzed and error compensation methods are proposed.     

A non-contact laser speckle sensor for the measurement of robotic tool speed

A non-contact speckle correlation sensor for the measurement of robotic tool speed is described that is capable of measuring the in-plane relative velocities between a robot end-effector and the workplace or other surface. The sensor performance has been assessed in the laboratory with sensor accuracies of ±0.01 mm/s over a ±70 mm/s velocity range. The effect of misalignment of the sensor on the robot was assessed for variation in both working distance and angular alignment with sensor accuracy maintained to within 0.025 mm/s (<0.04%) over a working distance variation of ±5 mm from the sensor design distance and ±0.4 mm/s (0.6%) for a misalignment of 5°. The sensor precision was found to be limited by the peak fitting accuracy used in the signal processing with peak errors of ±0.34 mm/s. Finally an example of the sensor’s application to robotic manufacturing is presented where the sensor was applied to tool speed measurement for path planning in the wire and arc additive manufacturing process using a KUKA KR150 L110/2 industrial robot.     

Multi-sensor measurement system for robotic drilling

In this paper we present a multi-sensor measurement system for robotic drilling. The system enables a robot to measure its 6D pose with respect to the work piece and to establish a reference coordinate system for drilling. The robot approaches the drill point and performs an orthogonal alignment with the work piece. Although the measurement systems are readily capable of achieving high position accuracy and low deviation to perpendicularity, experiments show that inaccuracies in the test scenario and slippage on the work piece when exerting clamping force considerably impact the results. With the current robotic drilling system an average position deviation of 0.334 mm and an average deviation to perpendicularity of 0.29° are achieved.     

Dynamic modeling and nonlinear tracking control of a novel modified quadrotor

In this article, a nonlinear tracking controller is designed based on Lyapunov stability for a novel aerial robot. The proposed 6‐rotor configuration improves stability and payload lifting capacity of the robot compared with conventional quadrotors while avoiding further complexities in the robot dynamics and steering principles. The dynamical model of the robot is derived using Newton‐Euler method. The model represents a nonlinear, coupled, and underactuated system. The proposed control strategy includes 2 main parts: an attitude controller and a position controller. Both the attitude and position controls are Lyapunov‐based nonlinear tracking controllers that guarantee the asymptotic convergence of the states' tracking errors to zero. Simulation results are presented to illustrate appropriate performance of the closed‐loop system in terms of position/attitude tracking even in the presence of wind disturbance.     

低成本激光和视觉相结合的同步定位与建图研究

激光雷达和视觉传感是目前两种主要的服务机器人定位与导航技术,但现有的低成本激光雷 达定位精度较低且无法实现大范围闭环检测,而单独采用视觉手段构建的特征地图又不适用于导航应用。因此,该文以配备低成本激光雷达与视觉传感器的室内机器人为研究对象,提出了一种激光和视觉相结合的定位与导航建图方法：通过融合激光点云数据与图像特征点数据,采用基于稀疏姿态调整的优化方法,对机器人位姿进行优化。同时,采用基于视觉特征的词袋模型进行闭环检测,并进一步优化基于激光点云的栅格地图。真实场景下的实验结果表明,相比于单一的激光或视觉定位建图方 法,基于多传感器数据融合的方法定位精度更高,并有效地解决了闭环检测问题。     

Detecting Loop Closure with Scene Sequences

This paper is concerned with “loop closing” for mobile robots. Loop closing is the problem of correctly asserting that a robot has returned to a previously visited area. It is a particularly hard but important component of the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) problem. Here a mobile robot explores an a-priori unknown environment performing on-the-fly mapping while the map is used to localize the vehicle. Many SLAM implementations look to internal map and vehicle estimates (p.d.fs) to make decisions about whether a vehicle is revisiting a previously mapped area or is exploring a new region of workspace. We suggest that one of the reasons loop closing is hard in SLAM is precisely because these internal estimates can, despite best efforts, be in gross error. The “loop closer” we propose, analyze and demonstrate makes no recourse to the metric estimates of the SLAM system it supports and aids---it is entirely independent. At regular intervals the vehicle captures the appearance of the local scene (with camera and laser). We encode the similarity between all possible pairings of scenes in a “similarity matrix”. We then pose the loop closing problem as the task of extracting statistically significant sequences of similar scenes from this matrix. We show how suitable analysis (introspection) and decomposition (remediation) of the similarity matrix allows for the reliable detection of loops despite the presence of repetitive and visually ambiguous scenes. We demonstrate the technique supporting a SLAM system driven by scan-matching laser data in a variety of settings. Some of the outdoor settings are beyond the capability of the SLAM system itself in which case GPS was used to provide a ground truth. We further show how the techniques can equally be applied to detect loop closure using spatial images taken with a scanning laser. We conclude with an extension of the loop closing technique to a multi-robot mapping problem in which the outputs of several, uncoordinated and SLAM-enabled robots are fused without requiring inter-vehicle observations or a-priori frame alignment.     

Feedback stabilization of rotating Timoshenko beam with adaptive gain

The problem of boundary feedback stabilization of rotating Timoshenko beam, arising from control of flexible robot arms, is studied in this paper. First, under gain adaptive direct strain feedback controls, a counterexample is given to show that the corresponding closed loop system is not asymptotically stable, which is contrary to traditional conjecture. The counterexample given in this paper also exemplifies an interesting result: certain two two-order linear partial differential equations with five homogeneous boundary conditions have non-trivial solutions. Then, with an additional boundary feedback control, the related energy of the closed loop system is proved to be strongly stable, or more precisely, the configuration of the beam can be exponentially stabilized with some suitable non-linear boundary feedback controls with adaptive gain.     

机器人机构的精度优化设计

本文应用最优化技术,确定能满足机器人绝对精度要求的,并使制造成本最低的连杆参数的最优公差值.建立了机器人机构精度优化设计的数模,并针对一个带闭链的五自由度机器人,在不同精度指标,不同概率水平以及不同原始误差分布下,进行了连杆参数公差的优化计算。     

Further constructive results on interconnection and damping assignment control of mechanical systems: the Acrobot example

Interconnection and damping assignment passivity‐based control is a controller design methodology that achieves (asymptotic) stabilization of mechanical systems endowing the closed‐loop system with a Hamiltonian structure with a desired energy function—that qualifies as Lyapunov function for the desired equilibrium. The assignable energy functions are characterized by a set of partial differential equations that must be solved to determine the control law. A class of underactuation degree one systems for which the partial differential equations can be explicitly solved—making the procedure truly constructive—was recently reported by the authors. In this brief note, largely motivated by the interesting Acrobot example, we pursue this investigation for two degrees‐of‐freedom systems where a constant inertia matrix can be assigned. We concentrate then our attention on potential energy shaping and give conditions under which an explicit solution of the associated partial differential equation can be obtained. Using these results we show that it is possible to swing‐up the Acrobot from some configuration positions in the lower half plane, provided some conditions on the robot parameters are satisfied. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel XY-Theta precision table and a geometric procedure for its kinematic calibration

Spatial precision positioning devices are often based on parallel robots, but when it comes to planar positioning, the well-known serial architecture is virtually the only solution available to industry. Problems with parallel robots are that most are coupled, more difficult to control than serial robots, and have a small workspace. In this paper, new parallel robot is proposed, which can deliver accurate movements, is partially decoupled and has a relatively large workspace. The novelty of this parallel robot lies in its ability to achieve the decoupled state by employing legs of a different kinematic structure. The robot repeatability is evaluated using a CMM and so are the actual lead errors of its actuators. A simple geometric method is proposed for directly identifying the actual base and mobile reference frames, two actuator's offsets and one distance parameter, using a measurement arm from FARO Technologies. While this method is certainly not the most efficient one, it yields a satisfactory improvement of the robot accuracy without the need for any background in robot calibration. An experimental validation shows that the position accuracy achieved after calibration is better than 0.339 mm within a workspace of approximately 150 mm×200 mm.     

Registration of arbitrary multi-view 3D acquisitions

To register 3D meshes representing smooth surfaces we track the 3D digitization system using photogrammetric techniques and calibrations. We present an example by digitizing a 800 mm × 600 mm portion of a car door. To increase the tracking accuracy the 3D scanner is placed in a cubic frame of side 0.5 m covered with 78 targets. The target frame moves in a volume that is approximately 1100 mm × 850 mm × 900 mm, to digitize the area of interest. Using four cameras this target frame is tracked with of an accuracy of 0.03 mm spatially and 0.180 mrad angularly. A registration accuracy between 0.1 mm and 2 mm is reached. This method can be used for the registration of meshes representing featureless surfaces.     

Predictive seam tracking with iteratively learned feedforward compensation for high-precision robotic laser welding

In this paper, a novel architecture for robotic seam tracking using an industrial robot and off-the-shelf sensors is proposed to compensate the residual errors that are commonly observed in high-precision robotic laser welding due to the nonlinearity of a seam and the fast path drifts along a robot path. Our experiments demonstrate that the robot system can track both linear and nonlinear long seams at a high speed of 100 mm/s with TCP offset-error within ±0.1 mm using the proposed method.     

Dynamic compensation by fusing a high-speed actuator and high-speed visual feedback with its application to fast peg-and-hole alignment

This paper presents a dynamic compensation concept to grapple with the dynamic defects of a traditional robot arm, especially while performing high-speed endpoint regulations. The proposed high-speed dynamic compensation concept offers a new point of view for cooperating with a traditional manipulator to realize highly dexterous performance of manipulations. The concept is realized through adoption of a high-speed light-weight actuator as well as endpoint closed loop configured high-speed cameras. The dynamic compensation is analyzed experimentally with 1000 Hz visual feedback and a high-speed finger for a robot arm in the case of one degree of freedom. The advantage of the proposed approach is that the modeling for the robot system’s dynamics is not needed, whereas it is necessary and trivial in order to realize high-speed regulations by traditional approaches. Thus, the control issue becomes easier with the proposed approach. As an application for this concept, fast peg-and-hole alignment with large position and attitude uncertainty is studied. The alignment algorithm is based on a visual compliance strategy. Alignment experiments show that with the proposed concept of dynamic compensation as well as visual compliant motion control, robust and fast convergence was realized for most cases.