Showing papers on "Articulated robot published in 1982"

Measuring Curved Surfaces for Robot Vision

Abstract: A new industrial revolution is in the making, produced by a marriage of two versatile technologies, the computer and the robot. This combination of control and manipulation produces a machine with enormous potential for performing useful tasks-yet such potential has not been fully realized. One way to improve the capabilities of current industrial robots is to add visual sensors. Robots that are deaf or dumb or that have no sense of force or touch perform only manually trainable tasks that can be dangerous in some working environments. Many applications call for an \"intelligent\" robot, a stand-alone machine-usually with its own visual, contact, or auditory sensory perception system-that can detect changes in its work environment and adapt to them. Such a detection process requires a large number of computations on the sensory data to distinguish features, recognize patterns, or compare input data with logical expectations. With the low cost of microprocessors and the increasing use of dedicated computers, intelligent systems for robots are becoming more and more sophisticated,\"2 and we have no shortage of potential applications: sensorybased robots can be used in space exploration, deep-sea mining, and industrial automation, for example.3'4 Computer vision, the collection of techniques, software, and hardware for measurements and inferences from images,3,6 appears to offer the richest source of sensory information for intelligent robotic manipulation in the greatest number of environments. A simple computer vision system usually consists of an image-processing unit interfaced with a minicomputer or mainframe,' but many kinds of systems are available, some for as little as $5000.8 However, most of these are low-level processing systems,9\"10 consisting of image acquisition, edge detection, feature extraction, template matching, and object recognition.* High-level processing is time consuming, since it requires a lot of computation. Nevertheless, image-processing algorithms can be implemented on minicomputers or mainframes.'3 In fact, imaging devices have been widely used in many automated visual inspection systems to perform pattern recognition and image processing for a specific task.'4\"l5 This article describes a technique that uses a recorded image of a projected pattern to measure 3-D surface points on simple, curved objects. The measured points are then fit to a quadric surface equation from which location, orientation, and surface recognition are extracted. For many man-made objects, this extracted information is sufficient to permit a robot hand to pick up the object, and results indicate that curved, featureless objects can be located.

A Comparative Study of Robot Languages

Abstract: Efficient communication with industrial robots is a key factor in the success of contemporary programmable automation, but robot languages-the means of communication-have commonly been developed in an ad hoc manner to meet the needs of a particular robot and application. Thus, we currently have almost as many robot languages as robots. To formulate recommendations for an efficient robot language of the future, this article reviews and evaluates many of the RLs now in use or under development in industrial or academic environments. Table I compares the industrial robots for which the languages were developed, and Table 2 contains background information on the 14 selected languages, * which are identified below.

An industrial robot

Abstract: An industrial robot having a robot hand attached to a robot arm, a rotary motion unit supporting therein the robot arm, a vertical motion unit on which the rotary motion unit is disposed, and a vertical hollow structure extending through the vertical and rotary motion units and defining therein a vertically extending wiring and piping space.

Hybrid Position/Force Control of Robot Manipulators

Abstract: In proposed method for task-oriented control of robot manipulator, position and force error signals for each task degree of freedom are used to calculate appropriate control parameters in task coordinates. Position and force error signals are transformed and summed to create drive signal for each actuator. New hybrid control technique does not require operator to supply complex transform matrices. Control trajectories are easily visualized in terms of task to be performed.

Cam-actuated robotic manipulator system

Abstract: A cam-actuated robotic manipulator system comprising an articulated robot arm adapted for multiple degrees of angular motion, and an actuator system which includes series-connected four-bar linkages and a cam input mechanism for controlling each degree of motion of the robot arm. The several series-connected four-bar linkages for each degree of motion share at least some common axes of rotation, one of which is position-variable for adjusting output position of the corresponding manipulator arm segment for a given cam input. The input mechanism to each four-bar linkage arrangement comprises conjugate cams and conjugate cam followers having an overload mechanism connected therebetween to detect obstruction to movement of the corresponding arm segment for disengaging the cam drive mechanism, and thereby preventing damage to the robot manipulator arm and actuator.

A robot wrist of an industrial robot

Abstract: ® A robot wrist of an industrial robot having a wrist housing supporting two orthogonally arranged rotating output shafts therein, each of the shafts being connected to a robot hand, and a built-in fluid conveying means provided for distributing pressurized air introduced from the outside of the robot wrist toward the robot hand attached to one of the rotating output shafts. An output end of each of the two rotating output shafts may either be plugged by a plug element or closed by a stop valve when the output end is not connected to the robot hand.