US 3,986,007 AGranted

Method and apparatus for calibrating mechanical-visual part manipulating system

AssigneeThe Bendix Corporation

InventorCarl F. Ruoff, Jr.

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Abstract

An automaton includes a work part supporting and manipulating system having sensors which provide signals indicative of the position of the work holder in a first coordinate system and a television system which can observe a part and generate signals representative of the position of the part in the television system's coordinate system. A subsystem for generating conversion factors used to translate positions in the vision system coordinates into the manipulating system coordinates receives the output of both the manipulator sensors and the vision system while the manipulator moves a target through a series of points along a line. The subsystem determines the angle of rotation between the two coordinate systems and the distance from the origin of one system to the origin of the other system through calculations involving lines drawn through the points in the vision system and manipulating system coordinates. It also calculates a length scaling factor representing the ratio between an observed distance in the vision system and in the manipulating system.

Claims7

Dependent claims

In a workpiece manipulating system having a manipulator with jaw means for engaging a workpiece on a work area, said manipulator having sensor means for indicating the coordinate position of said jaw means in a first coordinate system, and an optical image converter positioned to view an image on the work area and generate a signal in reponse thereto, analyzing means operatively coupled with said converter for computing the coordinate position of the centroid of said image in a second coordinate system, a method for translating coordinate positions from said second coordinate system to coordinate positions in said first coordinate system comprising the steps of:

placing a target in said jaw means,
moving said jaw means and target between a predetermined number of points across said work area,
determining the coordinate position of said target in both of said coordinate systems at each of said points,
computing transformation factors for translating any coordinate position on said work area in said second coordinate system to the same coordinate position on said work area in said first coordinate system, and
storing said transformation factors.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.