Electro-optical systems for control of robots, manipulator arms and coordinate measuring machines
AssigneeDiffracto Ltd.
InventorTimothy R. Pryor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This application discloses systems for use in the accurate positioning of robot arms and and similar automation. It is adjunct or alternative to present methods utilizing digital coordinates transmitted from encoders based in the joints of the manipulator arms to provide control signals for motor actuators positioning said arms.
Claims25
A method for controlling robots, and other machines to cause a movable part to travel a predetermined path or to arrive at a location in space, comprising the steps of:
- optically projecting a pattern into space in a work area of the robot,
- providing a detector on the movable portion of the robot,
- detecting at least a portion of the pattern when the movable portion is in the work area,
- determining a position of the movable part of the robot relative to the detected portion of the pattern, and
- controlling the movement of the movable part of the robot based on the determined position.
A method for positioning robots and other machines comprising the steps of:
- providing at least one optical beam position detector on a moving portion of said robot,
- projecting a laser or other collimated beam into the work area of said robot with a beam projection unit external to said robot,
- sensing said beam with said detector and,
- determining from said detector the correct position of said robot.
A method for controlling robots and other machines comprising the steps of:
- locating at least one source of light on a moving portion of said robot,
- detecting the image of said source with an image detector,
- determining the position of said image and from said image position the location of said source in space and,
- feeding back the position of said source on said robot to the control computer of said robot in order to control said robot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.