A generalized calibration method for robots in manufacturing applications

Abstract

A generalized method of robot calibration is presented. Using this method, the true values of the robot's joint and link parameters can be estimated, which would considerably improve the accuracy of current industrial robots and remove one of the major obstacles to the implementation of offline programming. This calibration method, unlike some previous techniques, is general in nature and application to any type of robot. The algorithm can be used to estimate the optimal number of points which should be used in calibrating a specific robot, and the locations of these point. It can also be used to determine the minimum required precision of measurements that have to be carried out at these locations.<>