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Self-calibration of three-legged modular reconfigurable parallel robots based on leg-end distance errors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2001

Guilin Yang
Affiliation:
Automation Technology Division, Gintic Institute of Manufacturing Technology, (Singapore) 638075
I-Ming Chen
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical & Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) 639798
Wee Kiat Lee
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical & Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) 639798
Song Huat Yeo
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical & Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) 639798

Abstract

A class of three-legged modular reconfigurable parallel robots is designed and constructed for precision assembly and light machining tasks by using standard active and passive joint modules in conjunction with custom designed links and mobile platforms. Since kinematic errors, especially the assembly errors, are likely to be introduced, kinematic calibration becomes particularly important to enhance the positioning accuracy of a modular reconfigurable robot. Based on the local frame representation of the Product-Of-Exponentials (Local POE) formula, a self-calibration method is proposed for these three-legged modular reconfigurable parallel robots. In this method, both revolute and prismatic joint axes can be uniformly expressed in twist coordinates by their respective local (body) frames. Since these local frames can be arbitrarily defined on their corresponding links, we are able to calibrate them, and yet retain the nominal local description of their respective joints, i.e., the nominal twist coordinates and nominal joint displacements, to reflect the actual kinematics of the robot. The kinematic calibration thus becomes a procedure of fine-tuning the locations and orientations of the local frames. Using mathematical tools from differential geometry and group theory, an explicit linear calibration model is formulated based on the leg-end distance errors. An iterative least-square algorithm is employed to identify the error parameters. A simulation example of calibrating a three-legged (RRRS) modular parallel robot shows that the robot kinematics can be fully calibrated within two to three iterations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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