Abstract
In this paper we consider the problem of coordinating multiple motion devices for welding. We focus on the problem of coordinating a positioning table and a seven axis manipulator, given the parametric definition of a trajectory on a weld piece. The problem is complex as there are more than nine axis involved and a number of permutations are possible which achieve the same motions of the weld torch. The system is redundant and the robot has singular configurations. As a result, manual programming of the robot system is rather complex. Our approach to the coordination problem is based on subdivision of constraints. The welding table is coordinated to ensure down-handed welding convention, while the seven axis robot (a six axis Cybotech WV15 robot and track) are coordinated to track the weld point. The coordination is achieved by keeping the robot in good maneuverability position, so as to avoid the robots singularity conditions and motion limits of the track. We were able to express the singularity conditions in terms of cartesian coordinates [I]. As a result, we could obtain analytic solution to our optimization of the maneuversability and therefore avoid using known pseudoinverse techniques which are known to exhibit inaccuracies [2]. The output of our optimization process is the positions of the track and the robot end-effector, these positions are used to generate the joint angles of the arm by inverse kinematics.
Date of this Version
3-1-1988
Comments
Submitted to IEEE Journal on Robotics and Automation. This work is funded by a cooperative research grant provided by the Indiana Corporation of Science and Technology.