A method for measuring a pose of a robotic end tool, including: obtaining a three-dimensional feature of a flange and a three-dimensional feature of the end tool, establishing a first coordinate system and a second coordinate system at the center of the flange and the center of the end tool respectively, calculating a positional offset of the second coordinate system relative to the first coordinate system, and calculating a rotation offset of the second coordinate system relative to the first coordinate system according to each unit vector of the second coordinate system, so as to obtain a pose of the end tool relative to the flange. The method provided in the present application, compared with the manual observation method, the precision and stability of the pose measurement method are high.

An automatic calibration method of a robot system comprises providing a ball-rod member including a connection rod and a sphere connected to the connection rod, fixing the connection rod to an end execution tool mounted on a flange of a robot, providing distance sensors around a target point, and sensing an actual distance from each of the distance sensors to the sphere. The robot is controlled to move a center of the sphere to the target point in different poses based on the actual distances sensed by the distance sensors. A first transformation matrix of the center of the sphere with respect to a center of the flange is calculated based on pose data of the robot at the target point. A second transformation matrix of a center of the end execution tool with respect to the center of the flange is calculated based on the first transformation matrix.

A method of calibrating a coordinate positioning machine is described. The machine is controlled into a pivot pose in which a target point associated with a moveable part of the machine and a pivot point associated with a fixed part of the machine are separated from one another by a known separation. An error value for that pose is determined based on the known separation and a separation expected for that pose from the existing model parameters of the machine. The machine is controlled into a plurality of different target poses, and for each target pose a separation between the target point and the pivot point is measured and an error value for that pose is determined based on the measured separation and a separation expected for that pose from the existing model parameters.

A method for characterising the environment of a robot, the robot having a flexible arm having a plurality of joints, a datum carried by the arm, a plurality of drivers arranged to drive the joints to move and a plurality of position sensors for sensing the position of each of the joints, the method comprising: contacting the datum carried by the arm with a first datum on a second robot in the environment of the first robot, wherein the second robot has a flexible arm having a plurality of joints, and a plurality of drivers arranged to drive those joints to move; calculating in dependence on the outputs of the position sensors a distance between a reference location defined in a frame of reference local to the robot and the first datum; and controlling the drivers to reconfigure the first arm in dependence on at least the calculated distance.

A method for characterising the environment of a robot, the robot having a flexible arm having a plurality of joints, a datum carried by the arm, a plurality of drivers arranged to drive the joints to move and a plurality of position sensors for sensing the position of each of the joints, the method comprising: contacting the datum carried by the arm with a first datum on a second robot in the environment of the first robot, wherein the second robot has a flexible arm having a plurality of joints, and a plurality of drivers arranged to drive those joints to move; calculating in dependence on the outputs of the position sensors a distance between a reference location defined in a frame of reference local to the robot and the first datum; and controlling the drivers to reconfigure the first arm in dependence on at least the calculated distance.

A method calculates a calibration parameter for a robot tool. The method is based on the reception of an image dataset from medical imaging of an image volume via a first interface. The image volume contains a part of the robot tool and the robot tool is attached to a robot. A robot dataset is received by a second interface. The robot dataset contains a position of a movable axis of the robot during the recording of the image dataset. The position and/or orientation of a marking in the image dataset are determined by a computing unit. An image-based position and/or orientation of the tool center point of the robot tool are calculated by transforming the position and/or orientation of the marking. The calibration parameter is calculated based on the robot dataset and on the image-based position and/or orientation of the tool center point via the computing unit.

Systems and methods are disclosed for determining tool offset data for a tool attached to a robot at an attachment point. In an embodiment, a method includes controlling the robot to contact a reference object with the tool. The reference object is a rigid object with a known location. A force feedback sensor of the robot indicates when the tool has contacted the reference object. Once contact is made, data indicating robot position during tool contact is received. Additionally, the robot temporarily stops movement of the tool to prevent damage to the tool or the reference object. Next, tool offset data is determined based on the position of the reference object relative to the robot and the received robot position data. The tool offset data describes the distance between at least one point on the tool and the attachment point.

A method and an apparatus for calibrating a tool in a flange coordinate system of a robot are disclosed. The method includes: acquiring a rotation angle of each joint of a robot when a to-be-calibrated tool fasted on an end joint mounting portion of the robot moves to a central point of the to-be-calibrated tool and overlaps with a calibration reference point; acquiring calibration information of a central point of a calibrated tool in a flange coordinate system of the robot; and completing calibration of the central point of the to-be-calibrated tool in the flange coordinate system of the robot according to the calibration information of the central point of the calibrated tool and a rotation angle of the to-be calibrated tool.

A method of calibrating a coordinate positioning machine is described. The machine is controlled into a pivot pose in which a target point associated with a moveable part of the machine and a pivot point associated with a fixed part of the machine are separated from one another by a known separation. An error value for that pose is determined based on the known separation and a separation expected for that pose from the existing model parameters of the machine. The machine is controlled into a plurality of different target poses, and for each target pose a separation between the target point and the pivot point is measured and an error value for that pose is determined based on the measured separation and a separation expected for that pose from the existing model parameters.

A device with a processing unit and a storage device also has a base, a cover including a plurality of guiding holes, a plurality of receiving members, an installation member, a plurality of first sensing devices, and a plurality of second sensing devices. The processing unit determines by a specific one of the first sensing devices corresponding to a specific one of the receiving members that the installation member is to acquire a fastening element from the specific receiving member. Then, the processing unit determines by a specific one of the second sensing devices corresponding to a specific one of the guiding holes that the installation member is to move towards the specific guiding hole. The processing unit controls the installation member to fasten the fastening element to an electronic device through the specific guiding hole when the specific first sensing device corresponds to the specific second sensing device.