Error recovery in the assembly of a Self-Organizing Manipulator by using active visual and force sensing

This paper deals with the assembly of aSelf-OrganizingManipulator (SOM) by using the method ofActive Sensing. We set a 6-axis force/torque sensor in the wrist of a manipulator and a CCD camera in the hand of another manipulator. By cooperation of hand and eye, human beings can do a variety of versatile work. The eyes guide the motion of the hand, while the hand moves to make the object easy to see. We try to construct a system working in the same way as a human being. We integrate a vision system, a manipulator, and a force/torque sensor into a hand-eye working system. The scene simplification is based on the controlled motion of camera and manipulator. A method of theAverage Visible Ratio (AVR) is proposed to evaluate the viewpoint of the movable camera. A strategy for planning the assembly is presented. The efficiency of the system is illustrated by experiments.