Evaluation of kinematic and compliance calibration of serial articulated industrial manipulators

Abstract

As long as industrial robots are programmed by teach programming, their positioning accuracy is unimpor-tant. With a wider implementation of offline programming and new applications such as machining, ensur-ing a higher positioning accuracy of industrial robots over the entire working space has become very impor-tant. In this paper, we first review the measurement schemes of end effector poses. We then outline kinematic models of serial articulated industrial manipulators to quantify the positioning accuracy with a focus on the extension of the classical Denavit-Hartenberg (DH) models to include rotary axis error motions. Subsequently, we expand the discussion on kinematic models to compliant robot models. The review high-lights compliance models that are applied to calculate the elastic deformation produced by forces, namely gravity and external loads. Model-based numerical compensation plays an important role in machine tool control. This paper aims to present state-of-the-art technical issues and future research directions for the implementation of model-based numerical compensation schemes for industrial robots.