Three methodologies for the calibration of industrial manipulators: Experimental results on a SCARA robot

This article presents and compares three algorithms for the geometric parameter identification of industrial robots to increase its accuracy (static calibration). The estimation is based on the measure of the gripper pose errors when the robot follows suitable trajectories. The algorithms are general and can be applied to any robot providing that its kinematics is known. After a theoretical introduction to the general methodologies, these are applied to a selective compliance assembly robot arm (SCARA) robot analyzing its performance (precision, efficiency). Experimental results obtained with three methodologies are presented and discussed. The measure of the gripper pose error is based on a laser triangulation technique whose working principles are also recalled. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.