Method for calibrating force sensor mounted on robot, and robot

A robot equipped with a force sensor mounted at a tip of a wrist thereof, designed so that calibration of the force sensor can be executed to update a conversion parameter transforming an output signal generated by force or moment applied to the force sensor, comprising:

• a variation amount detecting device obtaining an amount of variation in output signals from the force sensor by varying a posture of said force sensor by varying the posture of the robot in a prescribed pattern;
• a reference data acquiring device detecting the amount of variation while a tool is mounted on the force sensor, when a command to acquire reference data is inputted, using said variation amount detecting device, and storing detected amount of variation in a storage device as reference data;
• and
• a detecting device designed to follow a dismounting and remounting of the tool mounted on the force sensor, when a command for simplified calibration is inputted, an amount of variation is detected using said variation amount detecting device, to obtain a detected amount of variation as current data, and updating a parameter for conversion of the output signals from said force sensor into force data to be detected with said reference data and said current data.

A method of calibrating a force sensor mounted on a robot comprising:

• mounting a tool on the force sensor;
• varying a posture of the force sensor;
• issuing an acquire reference data command which stores reference data correlating to a measured variation in output signals of the force sensor;
• dismounting and remounting the tool;
• and
• issuing a simplified calibration command, which stores current data correlating to a measured variation in output signals of the force sensor, and updates a conversion parameter using the current data and the reference data.

A robot equipped with a force sensor, comprising:

• a detecting device detecting a variation in output signals from a force sensor by varying a posture of the force sensor in a prescribed pattern, the detecting device designed to follow a dismounting and remounting of a tool mounted on the force sensor;
• a reference device requesting the variation in output signals from the force sensor while the tool is mounted and storing the variation in output signals as reference data;
• and
• a simplified calibration device requesting a new variation in output signals from the force sensor after the reference data is acquired and the tool is dismounted and remounted, and storing the variation in output signals as current data, and updating a calibration parameter using the reference data and the current data.

A method of calibrating a force sensor mounted on a robot, comprising:

• mounting a member on the force sensor on the robot;
• varying a posture of the robot having the member mounted thereon;
• storing reference data indicating forces sensed by the force sensor due to the variance in posture of the robot;
• dismounting the member from the robot;
• remounting the member on the robot;
• varying the posture of the robot having the member remounted thereon;
• storing current data indicating forces sensed by the force sensor due to the variance in posture of the robot having the member remounted thereon;
• and
• updating a parameter used for conversion of signals detected by the force sensor in accordance with a difference between the reference data and the current data.

A method of calibrating a force sensor mounted on a robot, comprising:

• mounting a tool on the force sensor on the robot at a first time;
• dismounting the tool from the robot;
• remounting the tool on the robot at a second time;
• and
• updating a parameter used for conversion of signals detected by the force sensor in accordance with differences between first and second data corresponding, respectively, to measurements taken at the first and second times by the force sensor while a posture of the robot is varied.