THE DEVELOPMENT OF A POSE SENSING SYSTEM

FASTMAN, INC. IS REQUESTING A PHASE I GRANT IN ORDER TO FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF AN INEXPENSIVE POSE SENSOR WHICH IS APART OF THEIR ROBOT CALIBRATION AND CONTROL SYSTEM DESIGNED TO IMPROVE ROBOT ACCURACY. THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS PHASE IEFFORT WILL BE TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF OPERATING THESENSOR IN A TYPICAL MANUFACTURING ENVIRONMENT. THE SENSOR IS A PART OF A CALIBRATION SYSTEM WHICH IMPROVES THE ACCURACY OF THE ROBOT'S TRAJECTORY AT ITS END POSITION AND ORIENTATION (POSE). A CORRECTION ALGORITHM IS USED TO GENERATE JOINT CORRECTIONS WHICH, WHEN ADDED TO THE NOMINAL JOINT SOLUTIONS DETERMINED BY THE ROBOT'S CONTROLLER, MAKE THE ACHIEVED POSE EQUAL TO THAT DESIRED. THE CORRECTION ALGORITHM REQUIRES THAT A MODEL OF THE ACTUAL ROBOT LINKAGE BE DETERMINED. FASTMAN'S SYSTEM DETERMINES THAT MODEL USINGA SERIES OF ACCURATE POSE MEASUREMENTS AND A CALIBRATION ALGORITHM DEVELOPED BY THE OWNERS OF FASTMAN. THE POSE MEASUREMENTS ARE MADE USING THE INEXPENSIVE POSE SENSOR, WHICH IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS PROPOSAL. THE CALIBRATION SYSTEM ALLOWS POSES GENERATED BY TASK PROGRAMS, INCLUDING THOSE GENERATED ONLINE OR OFFLINE, TO BESTORED AS QUALIFIED POSES. THE USE OF QUALIFIED POSES MAKESTHESE PROGRAMS INDEPENDENT OF THE ROBOT'S PERFORMANCE AND THE PARTICULAR ROBOT OR ROBOT TYPE USED TO PREFORM THE TASK.