An automated calibration system for the relation between a robot-arm coordinate frame and a profile-scanner coordinate frame includes a ball probe, a distance sensor module, a profile scanner and a control module. The ball probe is attached on a flange of a robot arm. The distance sensor module includes at least three distance sensors having respective axes sharing a common sensing plane and intersecting at a common point. The profile scanner is used for detecting a 2D cross-sectional profile of the ball probe. The control module is electrically connected with the distance sensor module, the profile scanner and the robot arm so as to control the robot arm to move the ball probe to obtain calibration information. In addition, an automated calibration method for the relation between the profile-scanner coordinate frame and the robot-arm coordinate frame is also provided.

A grinding apparatus including a robot, a grinding tool attached to the robot, a force sensor configured to detect a force exerted on the grinding tool, and a controller connected with the force sensor and configured to control the robot. The controller includes a variation acquiring section configured to acquire the present position of the robot by pressing the grinding tool against a reference surface in such a manner that a pressing force detected by the force sensor is constant, and to acquire a difference between the acquired present position and a reference position of the robot stored in advance, the difference being acquired as a variation of the grinding tool.

Disclosed herein is a device, system and method for determining error in robotic manipulator-to-camera calibration. The method includes detecting a test object by a camera coupled to a robotic manipulator. One or more test points are identified on the test object based on a CAD model and pre-defined contact points corresponding to the test object. Arm poses are determined for the robotic manipulator to reach the test points on the 3D test object by using current robotic manipulator-to-camera calibration. While driving an end effector of the robotic manipulator based on the arm poses, any contact of the end effector on the 3D test object is recorded upon receiving a feedback from the 3D test object. An error is determined in the current robotic manipulator-to-camera calibration based on current position of the end effector relative to the one or more test points on the 3D test object.

Methods of calibrating a position of a component include providing a robot with a gripper and crush and crash sensors, a calibration tool coupled to the gripper, and the component, which has a recess and a crush zone. The methods also include moving the gripper in a first direction to sense contact between the calibration tool and the crush zone, recording the contact position, and moving the gripper to insert the tool into the recess. The gripper is then moved in second directions to sense contact between the tool and the recess and moved in third directions to also sense contact between the tool and the recess. The methods further include recording and processing the contact positions to determine a surface location in the first direction and a physical center of the recess. Robot calibration apparatus for performing the method is also disclosed, as are other aspects.

A method for deburring an aeronautical part with an articulated tooling including a plurality of axes of rotation, the aeronautical part including at least one edge to be deburred, the articulated tooling including a tool holder, holding a calibration tool and a machining tool, the calibration tool and the machining tool being fixed to the tool holder and being immovable relative to one another, the method including steps of calibrating the calibration tool and the machining tool, of parameterizing the aeronautical part, of deburring the at least one edge to be deburred with the machining tool moving along a predetermined trajectory, on the basis of the parameters obtained during the parameterization step.

A calibration system includes a docking stand fixed within a three-dimensional coordinate system and an end effector supported by the docking stand. The end effector includes a frame received by the docking stand and an adjustable member movable along the frame. The adjustable member includes a clamp and a reference surface. The calibration system includes a computational system including at least one processor and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions. The calibration system includes a measurement instrument in electronic communication with the computational system. The measurement instrument is movable and is arranged to interact with the reference surface and transmit a signal to the processor. The processor is programmed to analyze a location of the measurement instrument within the three-dimensional coordinate system and the interaction between the measurement instrument and the reference surface to determine a location of the adjustable member within the three-dimensional coordinate system.

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 calibration method for a coordinate system of a workpiece held by a robot manipulator, which includes the following steps: setting a predicted coordinate system on the workpiece; controlling the drive mechanism to drive the workpiece to move a specific distance along a coordinate axis in the predicted coordinate system and measuring the distance change of the workpiece in a direction perpendicular to the move; using the measured distance change to determine an orientation error between the predicted coordinate system and the actual coordinate system; correcting the orientation parameters of the predicted coordinate system; controlling the drive mechanism to drive the workpiece to rotate by a specific angle around a coordinate axis of the predicted coordinate system and measuring the distance change after being rotated; using the measured distance change to determine a position error; correcting the position parameters of the predicted coordinate system.

The invention relates to a method for identifying geometric deviations of a real motion guide from an ideal motion guide in a coordinate-measuring machine having a sensor for measuring a workpiece, or in a machine tool having a tool for processing a workpiece, wherein the coordinate-measuring machine or the machine tool has a movable part which is guided along the motion guide and by the motion guide.

Disclosed are systems and methods to provide a method for calibrating a touchscreen coordinate system of a touchscreen with an industrial robot coordinate system of an industrial robot for industrial robot commissioning and industrial robot system and control system using the same. In one form the systems and methods include attaching an end effector to the industrial robot; (a) moving the industrial robot in a compliant way until a stylus of the end effector touches a point on the touchscreen; (b) recording a position of the stylus of the end effector in the industrial robot coordinate system when it touches the point of the touchscreen; (c) recording a position of the touch point on the touchscreen in the touchscreen coordinate system; and calculating a relation between the industrial robot coordinate system and the touchscreen coordinate system based on the at least three positions of the end effector stylus and the at least three positions of the touch points.