Accuracy enhancements of industrial robots through close-range photogrammetry

工业机器人具有高度可重复性。一旦机器人的末端执行器的姿态已经被手动示教，机器人末端执行器就可以以通常小于0.050 mm的位置误差一次又一次地移动到该姿态。然而，工业机器人的精度相对较差。如果机器人的末端执行器需要移动到预先计算的姿势（如离线编程），其位置误差可能达到几毫米。幸运的是，一种被称为机器人校准的技术可以提高工业机器人的精度。经过校准的工业机器人已经被用于许多航空航天应用，如去毛刺、抛光、钻孔和紧固。然而，仍然需要降低机器人校准的成本并进一步提高机器人的准确性，这可以通过开发更有效的校准技术和使用负担得起但适应性良好的计量设备来实现。 该项目旨在通过两个日本制造的6D测量设备来提高工业机器人的精度。也就是说，Creaform制造的两种基于商业摄影测量的系统将用于该项目：C-Track和MaxSHOT 3D。首先，将设计和制造一个特殊的多面人工制品，其姿态可以用这两个Creaform的6D设备中的任何一个来测量。然后，将开发新的机器人校准技术，用于这两个6D设备的特定用途。与此同时，将开发一种自动化程序，用于在C轨道的帮助下对某些工业机器人进行动态机器人姿态校正。最后，将开发一个专用的程序，用于使用由C轨道引导的机器人进行零件的几何检查。

Industrial robots are highly repeatable. Once the pose of a robot's end-effector has been manually taught, the robot end-effector can move to that pose over and over again with a position error that is typically smaller than 0.050 mm. However, the accuracy of industrial robots is relatively poor. If the robot's end-effector is required to move to a pre-calculated pose (as in offline programming), its position error may reach a couple of millimetres. Fortunately, a technique known as robot calibration allows improving the accuracy of industrial robots. Calibrated industrial robots are already being used in many aerospace applications such as deburring, polishing, drilling, and fastening. However, there is still a need for reducing the cost of robot calibration and for further improving the accuracy of robots, which can be done through developing more effective calibration techniques and using affordable but well-adapted metrology equipment. This project aims to improve the accuracy of industrial robots with the help of two Canadian-made 6D measurement devices. Namely, two commercial photogrammetry based systems manufactured by Creaform will be used in this project: the C-Track and the MaxSHOT 3D. Firstly, a special multifaceted artefact will be designed and fabricated, the pose of which can be measured with any of these two Creaform's 6D devices. Then, novel robot calibration techniques will be developed for the specific use with these two 6D devices. In parallel, an automated procedure will be developed for the dynamic robot pose correction of certain industrial robots with the help of a C-Track. Finally, a dedicated procedure will be developed for the geometry inspection of parts using a robot guided by a C-Track.