System and method for enhancing reach of a robotic arm
AssigneePlazma Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
InventorsHughen Gerrard Thomas, Arjun Mendhi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for machining a work-piece in restrictive access operating position is disclosed. The system includes a robot arm adapted to access the bottom face of the work-piece; a computation means adapted to compute a central line on the bottom face while ascertaining an area of overlap that is accessible from all sides of the work-piece; and a robot controller adapted to sequentially maneuver the robot arm from one side of the work-piece to other side of the work-piece on the bottom face. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
Claims11
A robotic system for machining a work-piece in restrictive access operating position, said system comprising:
- a robot arm adapted to access a face of the work-piece with a restricted reach of the robot arm of a robot, wherein the face is a bottom face of the work-piece;
- a reach determination means adapted to determine a maximum reach of a tool held by the robot arm on the bottom face of the of the work-piece from both sides of the work-piece;
- a computation means adapted to:
- compute positional coordinates of the tip of the tool held by the robot arm;
- compute positional coordinates of a central line on the bottom face;
- and
- compute, based on the maximum reach, an area of overlap located on the bottom face and comprising the central line that is accessible from both sides of the work-piece;
- and
- a robot controller adapted to:
- sequentially maneuver the robot arm on the bottom face from one side of the work-piece to other side of the work-piece crossing the central line and
- position the central line on the area of overlap on the bottom face of the work-piece in a machining zone such that the area of overlap is within the restricted reach of the robot arm from each of the opposite sides of the workpiece.
A method to machine a work-piece in a restrictive access operating position, said method comprising:
- I. sequentially approaching bottom face of said work-piece by a robot arm of a robot for machining a notch-less cut-out profile, wherein the bottom face comprises a restricted reach of the robot arm of the robot;
- II. dividing said bottom face into almost equal halves by a dynamic divider to ascertain an area of overlap comprising the dynamic divider from at least two sides of said work-piece, wherein the area of overlap is within the restricted reach of the robot arm of the robot;
- III. shifting said dynamic divider considering each contour of cut-outs to be machined on the bottom face according to a position of the dynamic divider relative to the area of overlap;
- IV. splitting a contour which intersects both boundaries of the area of overlap to generate two independent non-closed contours by appending a lead-in at a start point of the contour and a lead-out at an end-point of the contour;
- repeating steps I-IV for each independent contour on the bottom face until no other contours are remaining;
- and
- operating on the bottom face by the robot arm in order of contours in a queue for approach from each direction, wherein the operating comprises positioning the dynamic divider on the area of overlap on the bottom face of the work-piece in a machining zone such that the area of overlap is within the restricted reach of the robot arm from each of the opposite sides of the workpiece.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.