Estimation of the accuracy of a robot manipulator

In order to select high-accuracy robots for precise assembly tasks, a method for estimating the robot's accuracy is needed. Based on the developed error model [1]-[3] describing the accuracy of a robot manipulator resulting from the kinematic errors, a statistical estimation procedure for robot accuracy is developed. By calculating the Cartesian errors at many different arm positions in the known world, the robot accuracy can be estimated by using the maximum likelihood estimate for the covariance matrix of these Cartesian errors.