Sensor-based correction of robot-held object
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsNicholas Michael Kopec, Damon K. Cox, Leon Volfovski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robotic object handling system comprises a robot arm, an image sensor, a first station, and a computing device. The computing device is to cause the robot arm to pick up an object on an end effector, cause the image sensor to generate sensor data of the object, determine at least one of (i) a rotational error of the object or (ii) a positional error of the object based on the sensor data, cause an adjustment to the robot arm to approximately remove at least one of the rotational error or the positional error, and cause the robot arm to place the object at the first station without at least one of the rotational error or the positional error.
Claims23
A method comprising:
- picking up an object on an end effector of a robot arm;
- generating an image of the object on the end effector using an image sensor while the object is held on the end effector of the robot arm;
- determining at least one of (i) a rotational error of the object based on an orientation of a registration feature reflected by the image of the object or (ii) a positional error of the object based on a position of the registration feature reflected by the image of the object;
- adjusting the robot arm to approximately remove at least one of the rotational error or the positional error;
- and
- placing the object at a first station using the robot arm without at least one of the rotational error or the positional error.
A robotic object handling system, comprising:
- a robot arm comprising an end effector;
- an image sensor;
- a first station;
- and
- a computing device operatively coupled to the image sensor and the robot arm, wherein the computing device is to:
- cause the robot arm to pick up an object on the end effector;
- cause the image sensor to generate an image of the object on the end effector while the object is held on the end effector of the robot arm;
- determine at least one of (i) a rotational error of the object based on an orientation of a registration feature reflected by the image of the object or (ii) a positional error of the object based on a position of the registration feature reflected by the image of the object;
- cause an adjustment to the robot arm to approximately remove at least one of the rotational error or the positional error;
- and
- cause the robot arm to place the object at the first station without at least one of the rotational error or the positional error.
A robotic handling system, comprising:
- a robot arm comprising an end effector;
- a first station;
- a second station;
- an image sensor;
- and
- a computing device operatively coupled to the image sensor and the robot arm, wherein the computing device is to:
- cause the image sensor to generate an image of an object on the end effector while the object is at the first station;
- determine a rotational error of the object based on an orientation of a registration feature reflected by the image of the object;
- determine an angle correction for the object that will approximately remove the rotational error;
- perform the following one or more times until the angle correction is achieved for the object:
- cause the robot arm to pick up the object from the first station;
- reposition the end effector;
- cause the robot arm to place the object back down on the first station using the repositioned end effector, the object having a reduced rotational error;
- and
- again reposition the end effector;
- cause the robot arm to again pick up the object from the first station;
- and
- cause the robot arm to place the object at the second station without the rotational error.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.