Test-Bed for Programmable Automation Research. Phase I.

Abstract : The goals of this project were to: Explore and develop programmable automation techniques for robot manipulation, sensing, and industrial vision; and Extend our programmable assembly station as a test-bed for generating and demonstrating those techniques. Five research tasks were concerned with two general problems: determining the location of parts, and moving a manipulator safely, without collisions. A sixth task was the extension of SRI's programmable assembly station. The tasks were: Analysis of LOcational Uncertainty; Acquisition and Analysis of Range Data; Characterization of Feature Detectors; Multiarm Collision Avoidance; Coordination of Multiple Manipulators; and Extension of a Programmable Assembly Station.