A robot cell calibration algorithm and its use with a 3D measuring system

With the increasing number of industrial applications using offline programming (OLP), robot calibration has become an important issue and has allowed 'one-shot' OLP to be a reality in many instances. Calibration has therefore played an important part in expanding the application range of OLP. In some cases, robot applications which would have been impossible to program using online techniques have been successfully implemented using calibration and OLP. The problem of robot accuracy is a major issue in most advanced industrial applications when programming robots offline using simulation software. This paper presents the description and evaluation of a technique for improving the absolute positional accuracy of industrial robots by the use of a 3D measuring system, along with some experimental results to verify the technique.