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Robust industrial robot real-time positioning system using VW-camera-space manipulation method

Yong Liu (School of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China)
Dingbing Shi (School of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China)
Steven Baard Skaar (School of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China)

Industrial Robot

ISSN: 0143-991x

Article publication date: 14 January 2014

532

Abstract

Purpose

Vision-based positioning without camera calibration, using uncalibrated industrial robots, is a challenging research problem. To address the issue, an uncalibrated industrial robot real-time positioning system has been developed in this paper. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The software and hardware of this system as well as the methodology are described. Direct and inverse kinematics equations that map joint space into “camera space” are developed. The camera-space manipulation (CSM) algorithm has been employed and improved with varying weights on camera samples of the robot end effector, and the improved CSM is named VW-CSM. The experiments of robot positioning have been conducted using the traditional CSM algorithm and the varying-weight CSM (VW-CSM) algorithm, respectively, both without separate camera calibration. The impact on the accuracy and real-time performance of the system caused by different weights has been examined and discussed.

Findings

The experimental results show that the accuracy and real-time performance of the system with the VW-CSM algorithm is better than the one with using the original CSM algorithm, and the impact on the accuracy and real-time performance of the system caused by different weights has been revealed.

Originality/value

The accuracy and real-time performance of the system with the VW-CSM algorithm is verified. These results prove that the developed system using the VW-CSM algorithm can satisfy the requirements of most industrial applications and can be widely used in the field of industrial robots.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China under grants 61175082, Jiangsu Science & Technology Pillar Program under grants BE2011192, National Human Resources and Social Security Ministry, and Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Chinese Scholar and Ministry of Personnel of China.

Citation

Liu, Y., Shi, D. and Baard Skaar, S. (2014), "Robust industrial robot real-time positioning system using VW-camera-space manipulation method", Industrial Robot, Vol. 41 No. 1, pp. 70-81. https://doi.org/10.1108/IR-04-2013-340

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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