Automatic generation of probing operation for estimating contact position between object and environment

It is well known that there are positional and geometric uncertainties in the robotic assembly operation, and that in order to perform an assembly operation by robot successfully, it is necessary to estimate the correct position and geometric information of a fixed environment. In response to these problems the authors present a technique for estimating the contact position and geometric information between the object and the environment from a number of positions and orientations of a moving object. This information is to be measured while the object is dexterously probed on the environment around the contact position. The paper considers a method for generating the probing operations automatically. First, the possibility of performing probing operations on a contact position is discussed. Then, automatic generation approaches for probing operations are described.