Calibration system for a programmable manipulator

A calibration system for a programmable manipulator, the manipulator having a base, a plurality of segments movable with respect to each other on centers of rotation, and an end effector, comprising:

• (a) fixture means, attached to the base of the manipulator, having an end point to which the end effector attaches, exactly positioned and oriented with respect to the base, thereby establishing a known position and orientation of the end effector, the position of the end point representing an idealized position;
• (b) a hand-held application module for directing the operation of the programmable manipulator, including calibration mode means for initiating calibration of the programmable manipulator;
• (c) means for determining the theoretical displacement between each pair of the plurality of segments based on the distances between the centers of rotation of successive segments and the position and orientation of the end effector;
• and
• (d) means, activated when calibration is initiated, for measuring the displacement between each pair of the plurality of segments and for measuring and storing the difference between the theoretical displacement and the measured displacement for each pair of segments as offsets for correcting the measured displacement.