Development of a calibration method for Mecademics Meca500 robot arm

Mecademic manufactures the smallest and most precise six-axis robot arm. The repeatability of this robot is better than 0.005 mm, but like any industrial robot, the robots accuracy is far worse. Although all robot parts are machined and assembled precisely, the only practical way of improving the robots accuracy is to calibrate each individual robot. While various methods for the calibration of six-axis robot arms have already been developed in the past, the proposed research project differs in several aspects. First, the applicant will use a CMM to measure the position and orientation of the robots end-effector. One novelty of the project will be the possible use of a datum cube as an artifact to be attached to the end-effector and probed with the CMM. This will significantly reduce the time needed for calibrating a robot. Finally, since the applicant will have full access to all physical characteristics of the robot, an attempt will be made to develop a simpler mathematical model, so that the model can be used in real time.

Faculty Supervisor:

Souheil-Antoine Tahan

Student:

Oleksandr Stepanenko

Partner:

Mecademic

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Advanced manufacturing

University:

Program: