Concurrent Design of Tool-Paths and Impedance Controllers for Performing Area Coverage Operations in Manufacturing Applications under Uncertainty

• Main Authors: Bhatt, Prahar M., Kabir, Ariyan M., Malhan, Rishi K., Shembekar, Aniruddha V., Shah, Brual C., Gupta, Satyandra K.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Impedance; Manipulators; Surface topography; Uncertainty
• ISSN: 2161-8089
• DOI: 10.1109/COASE.2019.8843034

Low production volume applications cannot use custom fixtures to reduce uncertainties in part locations. Traditional tool-path planners for area coverage applications may not perform satisfactorily when there is significant uncertainty in part locations because these planners do not account for the tool-part contact and impedance controller parameters during path execution. This may lead to tool collision with the part, incorrect force at the Tool Center Point (TCP), and loss of contact while performing area coverage operations. Moreover, the poorly designed tool-path and incorrectly estimated impedance control parameters also lead to poor task performance. To avoid such failures, we concurrently design a collision-free tool-paths, generate executable robot trajectory, and select the impedance compensation parameters so that it can take care of part uncertainties and provide the desired tool-part contact. We apply the designed algorithm for area coverage manufacturing applications. Finally, we evaluate the algorithm performance by conducting physical experiments.