Sensory guidance of seam tracking robots

The primary goal of a seam tracking robot, based on sensory feedback, is to maintain a prescribed relationship between the end effector and the workpiece throughout the whole motion of the manipulator along the nominal path. The purpose of this article is to present the essential conceptual and theoretical features of a high-speed seam tracking controller for sealant application. The general system configuration is discussed, followed by a brief account of the key aspects involved with the sensing of the seam location and subsequent correction command generation for the guidance of the robot. The theoretical considerations are followed by a detailed account of the physical implementation of the proposed system, with performance evaluation data obtained under actual working conditions. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.