Development of a laser tracking system

The measurement of the position and orientation of a robot end effector is the most critical issue for calibration of robotic devices. Calibration methods provide tools to improve the accuracy of robots without modification to the arm or its control architecture. However, such calibration techniques require a large number of accurate measurements. Dynamic measurement of position and orientation provides a solution to this problem and also allows dynamic calibration of robots thus improving dynamic accuracy. To develop dynamic measurement capability, the concept of laser tracking has recently applied to calibration of robots. This paper describes the development of a laser tracking system for dynamic measurement applications. The structure and system components are presented and the principle of laser tracking is described. The system will have applications in calibration as well as long range/remote guidance of fixed-base and mobile robots.