Robotic End Effector Control With Real-Time Surface Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotics application frameworks do not allow users to customize interfaces for real-time, custom use cases, limiting the ability to incorporate real-time sensor information and custom control logic, which can lead to manufacturing inaccuracies and additional costs due to assumptions about workpiece geometry and neglecting surface variations and deformations.
Innovation Solution
A real-time robotics control framework that enables users to define custom real-time control functions, specifying trajectories and distance ranges for end effectors to adapt to surface variations and deformations in real-time, using high-level programming languages and integrating real-time sensor data for precise control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a closed software system controls each low-level picking and placing action, then timing requirements are met, but the system lacks flexibility for customization and cannot adapt to surface variations
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into multiple layers: a real-time control layer that handles timing-critical low-level actions, and a higher-level application layer that provides customization capability. This segmentation allows each layer to fulfill its specific function without compromising the other - the real-time layer ensures timing requirements are met while the application layer enables adaptability to surface variations through sensor feedback and custom control logic.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary control layer is introduced between the closed software system and the robot actuator. This intermediary layer processes sensor measurements and applies custom control logic while maintaining real-time performance, acting as a mediator that bridges the gap between rigid timing requirements and the need for adaptive customization.
2Device complexity
If assumptions about workpiece geometry are made, then control is simplified, but manufacturing precision decreases due to unaccounted surface variations
Solution Approach 1:
Sensor feedback is integrated into the control loop to measure actual surface geometry in real-time. The system uses this feedback to compensate for surface variations and deformations, adjusting the robot's end effector position dynamically. This feedback mechanism eliminates the need for complex pre-characterization of workpiece geometry while maintaining manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary sensor measurements of the workpiece surface before execution, building a real-time model of surface variations. This preliminary action allows the control system to anticipate and compensate for geometric deviations during the actual picking and placing operations, improving precision without requiring complex control algorithms.
3Manufacturing precision
If mechanical fixtures and meticulous calibration are used, then positioning accuracy is improved, but setup cost and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces mechanical fixtures and manual calibration procedures with sensor-based measurement and software-based compensation. Sensors capture surface geometry data, and the control software automatically calculates correction factors, eliminating the need for physical fixtures and time-consuming calibration processes while maintaining positioning accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a digital copy or model of the workpiece surface through sensor measurements. This virtual model is then used by the control software to plan and adjust robot movements, replacing the need for physical fixtures and manual calibration. The digital twin approach enables accurate positioning without expensive mechanical setup.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for controlling a robot in accordance with a real-time robotics control framework. One of the methods includes: receiving a definition of a custom real-time control function; and repeatedly executing the custom real-time control function at each predetermined tick of a real-time robotics system driving the robot, including: obtaining sensor measurements, computing a new position for an end effector of the robot based on the sensor measurements in order to satisfy a distance range specified by the custom real-time control function, computing new robot control signals to cause the robot to move the end effector to the new position, and providing the new robot control signals to the robot.